so ive been doing more portable VHF work lately, mostly 2m but dabbling in 70cm, and ive been going back and forth on whether to bring a yagi or just stick with a decent collinear for hilltop activations. right now im using a diamond x50 on a painters pole which works fine for general ragchew but when im trying to hit repeaters 60-70 miles out or work some weak signal stuff the gain just isnt really there.

i built a cheap jpole out of 450 ohm ladder line a while back and that was actually pretty decent but im wondering if a 5 or 6 element yagi would be worth the hassle of aiming it. the thing is i dont always know exactly where the other station is especially if its a random contact so a collinear feels safer. but then again on a hilltop with low noise floor the extra gain from a yagi would probably be huge.

anyone switching between the two depending on what theyre doing or do you just commit to one and work with the limitations? also curious if anyone has experience with the m2 or cushcraft yagis vs homebrew for portable use, weight and windload are factors for me

for what youre describing i'd probably bring both honestly. a yagi doesnt have to be huge — a 5el on 2m can break down pretty small if you build it with a split boom and it makes a massive difference on weak signal. the x50 is fine for local stuff but youre right that the gain isnt there when you really need it.

i use a homebrew 6el on a cheap tripod and can swing it around by hand, just eyeball it toward where the signal is coming from and work from there. for repeaters at that distance the yagi wins every time. the collinear is nice for operating portable without thinking about aim but once youve worked a station 80 miles out with 5 watts and a yagi it kinda spoils you. cushcraft stuff is decent but heavy for portable work, most of the homebrew designs you find on the ntms or the old k5ogi pages are lighter and build in an afternoon

i just use a slim jim made from ladder line, rolls up in my bag and does the job for most hilltop stuff. probably not the answer you wanted lol but for casual portable ops i cant be bothered hauling a yagi. if youre doing actual weak signal EME or tropo stuff thats different but for repeaters and local ssb contacts the omnidirectional pattern is way more practical imo