so ive been running a quarter wave mag mount on the truck for years now and it does the job for local repeater stuff but ive been thinking about putting together something more directional for when im trying to hit a specific machine like 60 miles out or doing some weak signal work on simplex. someone at the club mentioned a small 3 or 4 element yagi on a portable mast might be worth it but honestly i dont know if that tradeoff makes sense when im mobile.

like the gain is obviously there, a 4 element on 2m is what, 7-8 dBd? but then youre dealing with aiming it and losing omnidirectional coverage and mounting something that sticks out 4 feet or whatever. has anyone actually done this comparison in a practical mobile or semi-portable setup? wondering if a decent collinear like the comet GP-3 or a diamond X50 on a mast might be the middle ground - more gain than a whip, still omni, not the nightmare of rotating a yagi on a truck roof.

mainly asking because the new digital modes have me wanting a bit more punch on 144 without going full yagi farm on my house

for what you're describing the collinear is probably your best bet honestly. i ran an X50 on a fiberglass mast strapped to a hitch receiver mount for a while and it worked really well for hitting repeaters out to maybe 70 miles on flat terrain, better than any mag mount i've used. the GP-3 is similar but the X50 is a little more mechanically solid in my experience, the connector housing on the GP-3 got a little sketchy after a year in the weather.

yagi on a vehicle is kind of a pain unless you're doing something specific like fox hunting or you just park and work. some guys run a small 5 element on a camera tripod out the window but thats not really mobile anymore thats just portable. if you want actual mobile yagi you need a mount that rotates and thats a whole project. for FT8 and weak signal on 144 from a vehicle the collinear plus a good low noise preamp at the feedpoint is gonna get you more real world results with a lot less frustration

yeah what he said about the yagi being a pain is true, did that whole thing with a 6 element on a TV rotator bolted to a trailer hitch and it was entertaining to build but im not sure it was worth it lol. you spend half the time aiming and by the time you get it dialed in the other station moved or the repeater you wanted went back to normal range anyway

one thing though - if you ever do try a portable yagi setup for weak signal just make sure your feedline is short as possible or use a good preamp right at the antenna. i was running like 20 feet of RG-8X to a 4 element on 2m and i was throwing away half my advantage right there at the connector. switched to LMR-400 and made up like 2 dB overnight which on 2m actually matters