A pitch guage will read both positive and negative pitch. You are turning the blades clockwise looking from the top. The leading edge should go up when the throttle goes up. It sounds like the pitch servo needs reversed in the radio. Make absolutly sure you have the throttle servo operating the proper way with the stick too. Throttle down the carb arm should be full clockwise and as you move it up it should move counter clockwise.

From your questions I'd strongly suggest you find a heli flyer near you to check your setup before you try it on your own. It also helps to have somone test fly it and trim it out for you and explane how it's done.

You can look here for somone local to you.

Pilot Locator

I tried it on my own with some not too sucessful results at times.

Good luck