so ive been going back and forth on this for a while now and figured id just ask here because i keep going in circles reading old threads. i do a fair bit of hilltop portable operating, mostly 2m and 70cm, sometimes just hunting for repeaters when im in a new area but more often trying to work some weak signal stuff or link into the local APRS network from places where my mobile whip just isnt cutting it.

right now i have a hustler G7 collinear that i picked up used - its decent, gets me on the air and the pattern is obviously omnidirectional which is nice when youre not sure where signals are coming from. but ive been wondering if a small yagi setup would actually give me more usable gain for the kind of operating i do. not talking about a big 15 element job, maybe a 5 or 6 el on 2m and something similar for 70cm, run on a mast with a relay box so i can switch between them.

the thing is lugging a yagi (or two) plus a mast up a hill is a whole different situation versus just chucking the collinear in a backpack. and aligning it toward where youre trying to work takes actual thought. so is the gain worth it in practice or am i overthinking this and the G7 is fine for what im doing

honestly depends what youre trying to do. if its mostly repeater access and APRS then the collinear is probably fine - those systems are usually designed with omni antennas in mind and a few extra dB of gain pointed the wrong direction doesnt help you. but if youre doing any kind of weak signal SSB or meteor scatter stuff even occasionally, a yagi is a completely different world. i used to think my Diamond X50 was good enough and then i borrowed a buddys 7el M2 yagi on a hillside one afternoon and it was embarrassing how much i was missing.

the weight/hassle thing is real though. i ended up going with a sotabeams type collapsible yagi that breaks down pretty small, it fits in the pack without too much drama. still takes maybe 10 minutes to set up but its not the ordeal i was expecting. if youre already hiking up a hill you probably have the time anyway.

i run a 5 element on 2m for portable and yeah it makes a difference but i'll be real with you - half the time when im just doing casual stuff from a summit i wish i had just brought the omni. depends on the day. if you know who youre trying to work and roughly where they are the yagi is great. if youre just scanning around and seeing whats out there it gets annoying to keep rotating the thing.

one thing i did that helped was just get a small compass and mark the bearing to the nearest couple repeaters i care about before i leave home. then i can point it and leave it. not perfect but good enough most of the time