Using An Antenna Matcher? Good or Not So Good?

Thanks, Dubya...but I'm not sure what you mean by "it will do little".

 

Thanks, kd. The Para Dynamics is a cheap little box and maybe you get what you pay for in this case? I'm looking into the MFJ.

 

OK. I understand that about a good SWR. The only reason I thought about using a matcher was the fact that the SWR will most likely change when a unit is loaded in that position as opposed to nothing up there when empty. The antenna is adjacent to this car (or van, SUV) when loaded and there's not a lot I can do about that as far as moving it, etc.

I guess a matcher in my case is probably imperative rather than optional, especially if I turn on an amp.

 

Thanks for the replies here all.

Rather than start a new thread, I'll just throw this out in this matcher thread. My Stryker has an antenna flasher on the dial which I guess is kinda like a dummy light on the dash of a car....if it's flashing, it needs attention vs having a gauge reading current status. I had my SWR set right then I plumbed and wired everything to include an amp (new out of the box and mated to the radio on a bench). New good quality coax all the way. I mounted my amp remotely, run the coax, got everything wired and fused then I hooked up my SWR meter. Without changing anything else, I started with the SWR saying now my antenna was "long". So I started shortening the whip. I got it down to 1.2:1 on channel 1 and 1.5:1 on channel 40. My antenna flasher was flashing on both channel 1 & 40 even with the SWR at this ratio. Re-checked SWR with another meter I had and it verified the readings were correct. On channel 21, SWR was 1.3:1.

My question...can the flasher feature on these radios be off? Is there an adjustment? It did not flash prior to installing the new amp. I have not turned the amp on and did not have it on checking and setting SWR today. I'm sure the SWR is OK but I don't understand why the flasher would be blinking if I have it this close. Same condition as before...no load on cab, etc.

Worry about it or not?

 

The radio is a 447 model. It doesn't have a switch on the back to turn off the flasher like some earlier models did. I just found out today that there is adjustment inside for the AWI.

I've checked, checked and re-checked SWR making certain it was consistent. 2 different meters. I checked it between the radio and the amp but reading today, I saw I should be checking between the amp and the antenna too. I figured it was all one line and SWR should be the same at the second point.All this is with the amp OFF. I haven't even turned it on yet until I verify I am good to go on this antenna warning.
Thanks for the advice.