so ive been doing a lot of hilltop activations lately, mostly 2m and 70cm, and im trying to decide if lugging a yagi up there is actually worth it over just using my diamond X50 on a painters pole. the X50 is dead simple and works fine for local repeaters but when im trying to work simplex or hit distant stations during contests or just good tropo conditions it obviously falls short

the thing is i built a cheap 5 element yagi for 2m a while back from a design i found online and it works but its kind of a pain to aim and i feel like half the time im just guessing which direction to point it especially if i dont have a buddy on the other end telling me signal strength. also transporting it without bending anything is annoying

has anyone gone the route of like a small moxon or a 3 element yagi that folds down or something that hits a decent compromise? or do you all just bring the collinear and call it good unless youre specifically doing EME prep or whatever. genuinely curious what people are actually using out in the field vs what they say they use

honestly for casual hilltop stuff i gave up on yagis a while ago unless im going specifically for a tropo opening or doing something structured like a VHF contest. the gain is real but the pointing problem is real too — you spend more time fiddling than operating. i use a 5/8 wave on 2m and it does fine, if conditions are good theyre good regardless.

that said if you do want to bring a yagi i'd look at the tape measure yagis, the classic ARRL design folds down to almost nothing and you can rebend it if it gets tweaked. 3 elements gets you maybe 7-8 dbd over a dipole reference and thats honestly enough to make a noticeable difference without the aiming nightmare of a longer boom. i made one for fox hunting and it pulls double duty on activations now.

im in the same boat been going back and forth on this for months. ended up just buying a cheap arrow satellite antenna because it does 2m and 70cm and breaks down into sections that fit in my bag. its not optimized for terrestrial work really but its way better than my handheld rubber duck and good enough for most of what i do. probably not the efficient answer but hey it works and i actually bring it instead of leaving the yagi in the car