so ive been doing a lot of hilltop activations lately, mostly on 2m and 70cm, and ive been using a diamond x50 on a painters pole which works pretty well honestly but im starting to wonder if im leaving a lot on the table by not bringing a yagi up with me. the thing is, setup time matters to me and the x50 literally takes 30 seconds to get going.

the yagis i've been looking at are the m2 2m5wl and the arrow ii for dual band. the arrow seems like the obvious portable choice but ive heard the gain figures on those shorter yagis are kinda optimistic and you have to be really careful about aiming which on a windy hilltop can be a pain. i did one activation where the wind was just destroying my setup and i was glad i had the collinear because i didnt have to worry about pointing it.

for working into repeaters and doing some ssb on 2m the collinear seems fine but if theres ever a weak signal situation or i want to try for some dx off a tropo opening i feel like i'd want that directional gain. anyone been through this same decision? do you guys just bring both or is that overkill for casual /p ops

yeah i went through exactly this about two years ago. ended up just bringing both for a while until i figured out what i actually needed. the arrow is genuinely solid for satellite and occasional ssb contacts but you're right that aiming it in wind is annoying, i ended up zip tying mine to a cheap camera tripod which helped a lot but added to the pack weight obviously.

honestly for most hilltop repeater work the x50 or any decent collinear is probably fine and the gain difference isnt going to matter much if the repeater is 30 miles away with a clear shot. where the yagi really earns its keep is tropo or meteor scatter where every db counts. if you're not specifically chasing that stuff i'd say stick with the collinear and enjoy the fast setup. if a tropo opening happens you'll work what you can work and itll still be fun.

one thing i will say though — the arrow's build quality is totally acceptable for portable use but i wouldnt trust it in sustained high winds. had a element bend on me once during a storm activation, wasnt fun.

the m2 stuff is nice but probably overkill for /p unless you're doing serious weak signal work. i use a cheap 5el yagi i built from a jpole design i found on the internet and it works fine for 2m ssb from a summit. took maybe two hours to build and weighs almost nothing.

cant speak to the dual band question since i just run separate antennas for 2m and 70cm but thats probably more hassle than its worth for most people