Here is my latest way to cut weight. Instead of the stock Arrow square mast, I am using these Nano Voile straps, about $4.50 each, to attach the arrows to my ski pole. I drilled two 3/16 holes in the straps close to the buckle to thread the threaded rod into.
I “tested” the setup by looking at the RSSI dBm reports from the Baw Faw, Boistfort PNW DMR repeater, 22 miles west of my location. I tried transmitting with the yagi pointed North, East, South, and West. I tried putting the arrows on the ski pole with just eye-balled spacing (turned out to be off by inches). Then I tried the spacing to match the stock square boom. Then I tried the stock boom. I repeated each twice.
The numbers don’t seem too dramatically different. Yes, the report is better on all of them when pointing West. The stock mast does have the best numbers overall. But I don’t know if they are better enough to justify the extra weight on a long multiple night backpack trip.
I also tried the MFJ telescoping antenna. It got pretty good numbers too (89.8, 90.7, 95.7). But in the field, I know I have had better luck on peaks with the Yagi.
