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I made one of those "tape measure Yagi" beams, and it worked surprisingly well. Wonderful for direction finding/foxhunting stuff because the elements will self correct if you're being careless and clumsy.
Be sure to honor the preferred polarization of the group (vert/horizontal). It would be a shame to make that investment in antenna just to take a big db loss from not thinking about the proper way to implement it.
I would generally agree to "make the beam, it'll only help"; but seeing as you're in a hollow, I'm not sure how much it would help when trying to hit those that have a mountain between you and them. Maybe with some fancy aiming, taking advantage of the fresnel effect, maybe. It'll definitely help hitting those with clear space between you and them, however.
Definitely !!Quote:
Originally Posted by kk4fpx
I've kind of thought about going to a pair of beams for 2m/440 myself...weighing some options for when I upgrade the antennas later this year. 90% of the repeaters I'd want to reach are within the beamwidth of a fixed 3 element Yagi, but I'd hate to get some up and realize it's the lack of height that I'm hearing :(
Yes, height is king. You didn't suggest the size of the mountain you'd need to fire through but nil desperandum I can work through an 800ft hill OK to maintain contact 35 miles away with just 2.5W into a Hentenna with reflector. Let's say equivalent to a 3-element Yagi or Quad.
Talking about height,i had to lower my jpole 2 meter to be able to hear two of my triends accross the hill.