so ive been licensed for about 8 years, mostly HF stuff with some 2m weak signal when conditions are decent, and ive always kind of looked at EME as this mythical thing that only guys with massive antenna farms and kilowatt amps can do. but ive been reading more about it lately especially with WSJT-X and JT65 and it seems like maybe smaller stations can actually work it now? not sure if im reading into that too much.

my current setup on 2m is a single 9 element yagi and a 100w radio, M2 preamp at the feedpoint. i know thats probably not enough but i wanted to get a realistic picture of what a minimal workable EME station actually looks like these days. like if i wanted to start making contacts in the next year or so, what am i realistically looking at for an upgrade path. do i need to go 4 yagis minimum or can a 2 yagi setup with a decent amp actually get me somewhere with JT65.

also curious how the scheduling side works, is there like a specific time you have to operate relative to moon position or is it more flexible than i think. ive read about perigee and stuff but dont fully understand how that plays into actual contact rates.

honestly the single yagi and 100w thing isnt gonna cut it for EME, at least not consistently, but youre not as far off as you might think either. the weak signal digital modes really did change the game. guys were working EME on 2m with 4 yagis and a kilowatt back in the CW days just to barely make it, now you can do it with less but you still need more than a single yagi and 100w if you want to actually make contacts rather than just decode someone once in a blue moon.

realistically a 2x9 or 2x11 yagi setup with a 500-600w amp would be a starting point worth trying. you wont be loud but you can work the bigger stations. the key thing people underestimate is the preamp, like you absolutely need low noise figure right at the feedpoint, that M2 unit is decent so thats good. feedline loss is the enemy on EME, even a few dB kills you.

moon position matters a lot, you want elevation above like 5-10 degrees at minimum, and both stations need the moon visible at the same time obviously. the EME2 and N0UK EME logger databases are how people coordinate skeds, theres also the ON4KST chat which is where a lot of real time coordination happens during activity periods. perigee vs apogee is like a 2dB path difference which doesnt sound like much but when youre already marginal it really matters.

yeah what he said about feedline loss, i learned that the painful way. had like 30 feet of LMR-400 running to my 4 yagi array and was wondering why my receive felt so dead compared to what i was expecting, moved the preamp to the mast and it was like a whole different radio. obvious in hindsight but yeah.

ON4KST chat is pretty much mandatory if you want to work EME regularly, people post their calls and grids and set up skeds right there. theres also specific 2m EME activity weekends throughout the year, the ARRL EME contest in the fall is when everyones on and the best time to make your first contacts honestly, lots of big stations willing to slow down and work smaller pistol stations during the contest.