Why not make a dual band Yagi?
Have a look at the plans available on the old Nuxcom website.
Why not take it along with your 2m or 70cm kit ?
When I manage to get out, I usually have 2m along with 23 and/or 13cm
Cheers……….G1ZAR
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Thats always the plan, but i am not known for short qsos and before I know it 3 hours have gone by and its time to pack up 
On the last G/LD weekend i setup on Billinge Hill with 2/70 on my left and 23cm on my right. Its amazing how many times 2 bands went active with summits at the same time.
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B&Q in Swords is your best bet for parts, Ian. You get there 1m uniform aluminium tubes of 6/8mm, for your elements. 15mm tube for a boom and white plastic clips to keep everything together. A junction box can be found there too or in Radionics.
I’ve built my 2/70 beams with the same parts. Running strong for almost 5 years with no service
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Great idea Alex! I’ve built a bit bulkier setup and only 3 el for 2m Using same boom for both 2 and 70 though.
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Cheers lads. @EI4JY I’ll pop down there in the New Year and get the parts. I SHALL make a yagi in 2026!
@GM5ALX - I had your yagi build page in my bookmarks for a while now. That’s the reference I’m looking to use when I build my own yagi for 2m. Can’t let 70cm feel left out though so need to build one for it too.
Then there is the idea of a portable cubical quad from the book I got earlier this year. I might try one for 70cm first, see how that goes, then scale up to 2m if it works well. Portable Cubical Quad and a Yagi are my top antenna priorities for next year.
It’s DK7ZB’s dimensions, 4el on 1m boom for 2m and 70cm.
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I’ve also used DK7ZB dimensions, but only for 3el 1m boom.
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I’ve thought about making @G5OLD Tim’s yagi next, or maybe a moxon. See if I can make something a bit more convenient to carry…and doesn’t use screws on a hill!
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Works fairly well when I’ve used it. 
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Can I say the old mantra about cable dressing and Yagis. But the other old joke saying first…
“The difference between theory and practice is often much greater in practice than the difference between theory and practice in theory.”
The feeder dropping vertically close to the driven element will affect the match and the radiation pattern. Is the effect important or undesirable? Well the answer is it depends. i.e. it’s not black or white but some shade of grey.
You may find the directivity when horizontal is much better than when vertical because the feeder falling away normal to the elements. You may find the vertical version has it’s maximum radiation pointing more upwards because of the feeder. Or it may be the proximity to the ground has much more effect on the performance than the feeder position here. But… you should aim to have the feeder run away from the driven element 1/2wave before it runs by the elements. This is not always easy and is left as an exercise for the activator. You should at least experiment a bit to see if there is any noticeable and repeatable effect.
A lot of commercial vertically polarised yagis are normally mounted behind the reflector to keep feeders and the mounting pole out of the way of the elements for these reasons.
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I still have the sotabeams portable 3 ELE 2m beam with the walking pole mast addition Might need to take it out over the new year.
This! I rarely change to vertical for FM after a session on 2m SSB / CW.
Antennas - combined yagi, 5 + 8 elements is about as large as is practical to carry and set up. DK7ZB designs have a single feeder - less hassle.
Moxons can have nice round corners and mount easily on your backpack.
IMHO this is a big mistake. When running both bands, 90% of the people worked on 70cm will already have been worked on 2m. Why bother with 70cm unless there’s a contest on?
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Is that another one of those bands you have in Ireland that we don’t have in the UK?
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The boom for that 70cm Yagi looks like a single piece of metal. How the heck do you carry that up to a SOTA summit especially if a solo activator? Even my portable 4-element 2m Yagi (with removable elements) has to be carried in a separate (and inconvenient) shoulder bag.
It is actually 2 piece boom and when taped together the mounting bracket makes it pretty well balanced for carrying. It isn’t that heavy either. It helps when its G/SP-017 Billinge Hill which is a pretty short and mostly flat walk from the car. I think its definately something suitable only for selected summits.
The most difficult part is the 2 swagged poles and wooden brush handle as the upper mast section (necessary when vertically polarised) and then actually erecting the thing can be tricky.
I have done it solo, but normally Peter M1BZJ comes along and he plays on other bands while I’m on 70cm. That makes it all a lot easier.
With 35w of FM from the ft-8900 and allowing for about 3db loss in the feeder it works out at about 400W of erp. Maybe I should take an amplifier
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LOC? is the usual one
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If you carry an antenna that size up a summit then you deserve to get points for 70cm contacts even if you’ve worked the stations on 2m. 
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The upcoming “December ‘25” release of PoLo (coming out in a day or two, depending on app store review delays) adds support for the SOTA Challenge.
A grid field will show up in the main logging area if you’re activating SOTA, and you’re in the 2m or 70cm band, and you’re in CW or SSB modes.
Additionally, SOTA exports will include POTA and WWFF references if available.
Please reach out to us if you find any issues, or if you have ideas on how to provide better support for SOTA activations.
73 de KI2D
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