Six Meter Yagi — M2 6M-3SS

I’ve added yet another antenna to my aluminum collection. This time it’s a 3-element six meter yagi, the M2 6M-3SS.

I had been reviewing the options for a portable antenna. My planned operation will always be from a push-up mast either in my backyard for the summer Es season or from some relatively rare grid from my SUV. Given that, the criteria was portability along with easy assembly and setup. While the Stressed Moxon does that well, I wanted a bit more gain.

I used to have an InnovAntennas LFA 3-element yagi. But that was way too much trouble to transport and assemble beside the road or in some pull-off. I’d considered the Directive Systems 6-meter 3-element yagi, particularly since I have their rover yagis for 144, 222, and 432. However, it too looked like too much assembly for a portable operation.

That’s when I started looking seriously at the M2 yagis. They have two versions of a 3-element yagi. The 3-element SS version, which I’m told stands for Starter Series, seemed to fit the bill perfectly. It’s simple, lightweight, and highly portable. Plus, the assembly is very straightforward with no real room for variability – bolts in holes.

I ordered the antenna from DX Engineering, with same-day and free shipping. Assembly was a breeze with very clear instructions along with exact measurements for each element and the gamma match. Checking it on the Rig Expert antenna analyzer showed no real required adjustment, although at some point I might tweak the gamma match a bit.

On that point, the antenna resonated at 50.400 MHz, which is pretty close to the go-to frequency these days of 50.313 for FT8. Even so, I contacted M2 to see how best to make adjustments. They were very prompt in their email response and said just tweak the gamma match a bit if needed. I’ll do that when I get a bit more energetic.

In addition, I contacted Balun Designs about a custom version of their 1:1 balun that’s optimized for 6 meters. Because the coaxial cable connector on the yagi is very close to the mast, I needed a balun with the connector as close as possible to the bottom of the case. Since they make everything to order, it was no problem and I soon had exactly the right balun for this installation. I’m hopeful this special balun will keep radiation off the coax and out of the shack.

Can’t wait for the 6 meter Sporadic E season to start in earnest. I’ve seen a few openings over the last week on the East Coast. It needs to move this way! See you on the air.

The Rest of the Story — That night after installation I worked a number of stations into California — my first 6m opening of the season. Here’s the map from DXmaps.com.

More Tuning — With everything set up and working, as shown in the photo below, I decided to do just a bit more tweaking with the antenna to obtain a better impedance match. Before doing that I double checked all the dimensions provided by M2. The three elements were off by about 1/8 inch here and there. But, the driven element was off by almost 1/2″ on one side. Then the gamma match was off by roughly 1/8″ as well. Good grief, I’d checked and double checked those measures. But perhaps it is now adjusted correctly. You can see the new sweep nearby. VSWR at 1.2 right at 50.275 MHz. Improved.