RadCom Basics May 2022, Edition 28

26 RadCom Basics tally polarised. This is followed by most people and typically collinears are used by those wanting to use FM on repeaters or make FM simplex contacts. I use a DiamondV2000 collinear [1] and this has given me three bands in a single antenna (6m/2m/70cm), with a bit of gain on each. I found this to be great for working FM on 2m/70cm. It’s also good for Sporad- ic-E (Es) openings on 6m,because the signal can arrive in any polarisation after bouncing off the Es clouds. My best DX using this on 6m has been Cyprus on SSB and Lebanon on FT8. Yagi Yagis are another popular choice on the VHF/UHF bands – they’re typically small enough not to draw too much attention to your set- up. A 2m Yagi looks a lot like an FM broadcast band antenna and a 70cm Yagi usefully looks quite sim- ilar to a TV antenna. Obviously 6m and 4m Yagis are quite a bit bigger and noticeable.Yagis are directional and typically have high levels of gain to the front of the antenna. This is great, but it means you’ll need an antenna rotator so you can change the direction remotely. Some Yagis Figure 4: Using a modest 5 element 2m Yagi while out portable. 5 elements are a nice compromise on 2m, between gain and antenna size.