After my first ever go contesting on 70MHz I decided I needed a longer yagi as I could hear stations that couldn’t hear me on the meagre 4W allowed in the 70MHz AL section. That is not a dig at the rules as it makes sense with the licence limit being 160W but it is hard work for sure so a longer yagi is definitely in order I feel. The loaned 4 element has a 2metre boom and stated gain of 6.4dB. It is also constructed using very thin coax for the DK7ZB match which although not much will be bound to have a little loss. My chosen yagi is 5.2m long and has a stated gain of 10.22dB and is made with relatively very low loss coax in the match so I hoped it would help me make it with the usual good bonus square stations. It was too dark to take a pic of the new yagi this month but the clocks go forward before the next one so I shall be able to get a pic.
On the night either conditions were much better or the new yagi rocks! My QSO count was up a little but more importantly I was able to make it to the stations I couldn’t complete with last month for those valuable bonus squares.