Inline antenna matcher

Hi guys, could someone please help me. Due to restrictive room in my garden i have a t2lt on a 30ft flagpole. I have tried and tried to get a reasonable swr reading. Anyway I want to get an in-line antenna matcher, something like the Zetagi mm27. As I already have an swr meter, how do they all connect? I suppose what I'm asking is do i need another patch lead, as i cant get my head around how it all fits together! Many thanks in advance. Nik

Hi Nik
Get on YouTube, plenty of good videos on there to explain what you want to know. 
Don't go for the MM27, invest the extra and get the Zetagi TM999. It's a matcher/ swr/power meter all in one. Then take your existing SWR meter out of line. Not super accurate but good enough for what we need and a very handy bit of kit IMHO. Yes you can buy MFJ or LDG ect but they are very expensive. I've had mine for ages and it works for me flawlessly. They are currently about £50 from Nevada radio Portsmouth.
Hope this helps, enjoy your radio. 
Cheers 
Dale 
26-CT-3550

Hiya Dale, weirdly enough I couldn't find one video showing how they were set up, but I probably did a 'man' look lol
At the moment Nevada are selling that particular unit for £44.95 so thanks, I think I may well order one now! Just one more question if I may. Is it ok to keep inline all the time or better to remove after each use?
Thanks for your input, much appreciated  Dale!
73's
Nik

I'm sure there will be some one who will explain the ins and outs for you later on, (if you don't find a video in the meantime) it's weekend and a lot of the guy's have families or are maybe having a pint, I'm sure you understand. 
There's a lot of helpful people on here. 
I keep mine permanently in line, then I can constantly monitor the SWR /PWR readings or make an adjustment when needed. 
Cheers

Thanks again Dale, in that unit you mentioned I know how to set that up, it was just if I bought the mm27 with my Smswr meter I wasn't sure about. It's good to know you can keep it attached, saves a lot of cable swapping, so thanks, with that info I'm now going to purchase one. Cheers Dale!

If you're going to use a matcher you're going to need to keep it inline all the time.

If using a separate matcher it goes...

Radio --> SWR Meter --> Matcher.

If you decide to run an amp that goes between the radio and the SWR meter.

Northern Crusader. Many thanks for your input. Also thanks for mentioning the amp. At this time I haven't any plans for one,  but saying that, I know in the future it may be the difference between getting heard or not, so thanks for that advice my friend. 
73's
Nik

Hello Nik, 

If you are just using the one band my advise would be to sort out the antenna issue. You should be able to cover the majority of the 11 meter band using the T2LT with perhaps a bit of tuning at the band edges. Remember a matcher will only present the desired 50 ohm load to your radio. For a single band I would make sure the antenna is properly tuned and resonant in the first place. 

73's Gary.

Hi Gary, thank you for the advice. Yes I couldn't agree more, and have now managed to get a 1.4 across 1-40. I think the issue was damp in the connector between the coax and plug. I have dried everything out and used self amalgamating tape, so fingers crossed! Appreciate your time. 
Regards
Nik

Always nice when you can find a fault. Nothing worse than something that looks like it should be working properly but doesn't.

Northern Crusader wrote:

Always nice when you can find a fault. Nothing worse than something that looks like it should be working properly but doesn't.

That's very true bud, well as a newbie I kind of thought I was doing something wrong but all seems to be reasonably set up. I just wish I could have a more permanent antenna up, its something I'm looking into at the moment.

For DXing most people are able to put up a dipole in an inverted V configuration. It would be about 10ft from tip to tip, although you could let a bit of the end of each leg hang vertically, with a pole in the middle to support the centre and it'll work well with the centre at just 16ft which is fishing pole territory. Use grey wire and apart from the pole it's almost invisible. Put it running north/south or slightly towards north east/south west and you'll get into Europe great guns as well as the USA if it ever comes in. Won't be much good for local contacts though.

Hi there many thanks for the advice. I will have a look into that, all depends on what the ball and chain says to be honest. I'm a little limited on space, but that idea could work well so cheers for that!
73's
Nik

Hi Nik,

Nice one sorting out your T2LT. Always worth a second look, a bit more more work and then jobs a good 'un
Really helps getting good suggestions by a nice bunch such as on here.

Conor's suggestion of a simple inverted V dipole is a good one for the DIY antenna brigade, so I second that idea.
Slung one up myself, hangs in the loft and cracks into Europe on the sporadic-E skip. As he rightly points out though, useless for local work!

I too have a "station manager" who up to now still tells me I can't have a big antenna on the house

I'll get that vertical dipole up one day without her noticing, I'm sure.

All the best,
Victor

Haha, that made me chuckle Victor! I must say the t2lt does a good job, but I know it can be bettered, and I do tend to collapse the pole when the wind get up! Not ideal, and as yet not got guy ropes in place...eek! 'Station manager' lol, I must remember that one! 
Kind regards!
Nik

I put up an inverted v dipole in my loft and it works really well ( I'm up pretty high ground tho) I also in the loft fitted a thunderrpole grounding kit with a red devil modulator and it slightly betters the dipole on transmit also have the swr down 1:1:2 on both I can't have an outdoor antenna just now due to renovation work