so ive been licensed for about 6 years now and done plenty of HF DX, some VHF contest stuff, but EME has always been kind of this mythical thing in the background that i never thought i could actually do. lately ive been reading more about it and with JT65 and stuff the barrier seems way lower than it used to be so im actually starting to think about it seriously.

my current setup is nothing special for EME purposes, i have a 144mhz yagi that i use for weak signal work, maybe 14 elements, and a TS-790 running about 45 watts. i know thats nowhere near enough for traditional EME but i keep reading that small station EME is possible now with digital modes. is that actually realistic or are people exaggerating. like what is the actual minimum to make a contact, not just hear the moon noise but actually complete a qso.

also confused about the az-el rotor situation. i have a small yaesu rotor but i dont think it does elevation. do i absolutely need elevation control or can you work a window when the moon is at a workable angle without it. feel like i might be overthinking the rotor thing but also dont want to spend months setting up only to find out ive been wasting time without proper pointing.

the short answer is yes, small station EME on 2m with Q65 or JT65 is genuinely doable now, its not just people hyping it up. ive seen stations with a single long yagi and 100 watts make contacts. your 45 watts is a bit thin but if you can squeeze more power out with an amp even a small one like 300-400 watts it changes the picture considerably. the link budget math on 2m EME is tight but it works out if you know what youre doing.

the elevation thing though, yeah you kind of need it. you can catch the moon rising or setting when its low on the horizon and your fixed horizontal beam is pointing roughly right but youre really limiting your operating windows to maybe a short time each day and some days not at all depending on geometry. i ran fixed elevation for a few weeks when i was starting out and made a handful of contacts but it was frustrating. az-el control opens it up enormously. yaesu G-5500 is the go-to combo that most people use, its not super expensive and works fine for a yagi setup. worth just doing it right from the start honestly.

also get on the EME chat page on the web, thats where people coordinate skeds. cold calling on 2m EME random is possible but scheduling is way more efficient especially when youre new and figuring out if your setup is even working right.

im in almost exactly the same boat as you were when you posted this, been lurking this thread for a week lol. one thing i did find out is that moon noise is actually a useful sanity check for your system, like if you can measure the Y factor when the antenna goes from cold sky to moon you know your receive chain is at least in the ballpark. i cant do that yet with my setup which kind of tells me something is probably off with my preamp or feedline loss or both.

the digital modes thing is real though, i watched a livestream of someone working EME with a pair of 9 element yagis and like 200 watts and they were pulling out contacts. looked almost too easy but i know theres a ton of patience involved and timing the moon windows and all that.