so ive been licensed for about 8 years now and done a fair bit of HF DX, some 2m tropo stuff, but EME has always been this thing in the back of my head that seemed completely out of reach. lately ive been going down the rabbit hole reading about it and now im not sure if im more excited or more overwhelmed.

from what i understand you basically need a serious antenna setup — like at minimum a decent sized yagi or dish — plus a clean low noise preamp right at the feedpoint, and then a good amount of power on TX. ive seen people talk about 4 yagis, even big dish setups like the old moonbouncers used to run. my question is more like... whats the realistic minimum to actually make contacts these days? im thinking 2m EME specifically. i have a TS-590 but im guessing i need a dedicated 2m rig or at least a transverter.

also how does the timing work with JT65 because from what i read the moon has to be up at both ends at the same time which seems like it really limits when you can operate. is there like a specific window each day or does it vary a lot by season and location. im in the midwest so i assume my windows differ from say the west coast.

anyway just trying to get a realistic picture before i start spending money. appreciate any input from people who are actually doing this.

EME on 2m is definitely doable these days without the massive arrays the old timers needed, mainly because of JT65 and WSJT-X doing a lot of the heavy lifting on signal decoding. realistically though you still need some antenna, the digital modes dont perform miracles. a single long yagi like a 9 or 10 element might get you a handful of contacts with the big guns but you'll spend a lot of time waiting for the right conditions. most people i know running single yagis eventually go to at least a 2-yagi setup and that opens things up considerably.

the minimum practical setup ive seen people succeed with regularly is something like a 12-15 dBd yagi, a good preamp with maybe 0.3-0.5 dB NF mounted at the antenna, and 400-500 watts out. you lose a lot in feedline so getting that preamp up there matters a lot. on the radio side yeah you'll want a dedicated 2m radio or a transverter off your IF rig, the 590 can drive a transverter fine. IC-910H is a popular choice but second hand FT-847s work too.

the window thing varies by your latitude and the moon's declination. in the midwest youll generally have windows that overlap with europe which is great because thats where a lot of the activity is. wsjt-x has a built in tracker so you can see exactly when you and a given station both have the moon above horizon. typically its a few hours per day, moves around with the lunar cycle. peak activity tends to be around the EME contest weekends in october and the ARRL EME contest, lot of stations get on for those.

I'll just add — don't underestimate the preamp situation. I made the mistake of running coax from the shack to a preamp inside and my noise figure was terrible, couldnt figure out why i was copying so poorly until someone on the EME reflector pointed it out. went to a relay-switched preamp at the mast and it was like night and day honestly. that detail gets glossed over sometimes when people talk about power and antennas but the receive side matters just as much if not more on EME.

also the moon window thing isnt as limiting as it sounds once you get used to it. you just kind of plan your operating time around it like any other propagation. some days the geometry is great, some days not so much.