so ive been running a Diamond X50A on my roof for about two years now and its been fine for hitting the local 2m and 70cm repeaters, no complaints really. but theres a repeater about 47 miles out that i can only hit when conditions are just right, and ive been wondering if swapping to a yagi would actually make a noticeable difference or if im just chasing something that isnt really there.

the thing is i dont really do any direction-specific operating, all my regular repeaters are spread out in kind of a fan around me, northeast through southeast mostly. so a fixed yagi seems like itd solve one problem and create three others. ive looked at the M2 2M5 and a few of the cheap chinese ones on amazon but honestly cant tell if the price difference is worth it for casual use.

anyone switched from a collinear to a yagi for repeater work and actually noticed a real difference? or is the feedline situation usually the bigger issue anyway

feedline is almost always the bigger issue in my experience. i spent way too long obsessing over antennas before i realized i had like 40 feet of RG-58 going up to my X200A and that was killing me more than anything. switched to LMR-400 and the difference was pretty significant, especially on 70cm where the loss really adds up.

that said, a yagi will absolutely get you into that 47 mile repeater if you can point at it. the gain difference between a decent 5 element 2m yagi and a collinear is real. but yeah if your other repeaters are spread around you youre gonna be rotating it constantly or just leaving it pointed one direction and living with it. some guys put up two antennas and use a relay switch, which works fine. depends how much you want to mess with it honestly.

the M2 stuff is genuinely good, not trying to be a fanboy but ive had one of their yagis on a rotor for years with zero issues. that said for just cracking into a distant repeater occasionally i dunno if the investment makes sense. have you tried just repositioning the X50A if its mounted anywhere near something that might be blocking that direction? sometimes thats all it takes. also what coax are you running right now