so ive been running a diamond NR770 on the truck for about two years and generally happy with it for local repeater work and occasional simplex but lately ive been thinking about doing some more serious 2m work, maybe some weak signal stuff and just generally trying to reach further on simplex when im driving through the mountains out west.

someone at our club mentioned just throwing a small yagi in the truck bed and pulling it out when i stop somewhere elevated - not a permanent install just kind of a portable deal. i was looking at a 5 element m2 or maybe just building a simple one from scratch since its not exactly rocket science. my question is whether anyone has actually done this kind of thing, like a semi-portable yagi you break out from the vehicle, and whether the gain difference is actually noticeable enough to bother.

also curious if theres a way to mount something like that more permanently on a truck without looking completely insane or destroying the aerodynamics - i drive on the highway a lot and the NR770 already makes a little noise at 75mph

yeah done exactly this, had a 6el on a painters pole strapped to the truck bed for a while when i was doing some 2m SSB rover stuff. honestly the gain jump from even a decent 5/8 whip to a 6 element yagi is pretty dramatic, youre talking maybe 10dB difference in real terms and that makes a massive difference on weak signal work or trying to punch through terrain. for repeater use you probably wont notice as much because the repeater antenna is likely way better than yours anyway.

as for permanent mounting on a truck, ive seen guys run a yagi on a fold-over mount on the roof rack, fold it down flat when driving and pop it up when stopped. works fine but yeah it looks a bit weird. the aerodynamic thing is real - anything long and horizontal at highway speed is gonna cause some turbulence and depending on your mount could flex enough to be a problem. id probably just do the take-it-out-and-set-up-on-a-tripod approach honestly, less headaches and you can orient it properly anyway

the NR770 is a solid antenna for what it is, good choice for mobile. but if youre thinking weak signal then yeah a whip just isnt gonna cut it, even a good collinear. the physics are what they are.

one thing nobody mentions - a 5el yagi on 2m is only like 3 feet long or so, really not that big of a deal to throw in the bed of a truck. if you build your own from the W1JR or WA5VJB designs the materials are cheap and it'll outperform a lot of commercial antennas. just keep it in a piece of PVC for transport and your good to go.