Antenna projects in 2013

Portable beams for maximum fun

Triggered by the amount of fun I got from my 4 element 10m beam during CQWW last year and the results I now get with my portable hexbeam I am thinking about building more beams. Building a Cobweb(b) and putting together the DL1ELU folding hexbeam turned out to be feasible, so I am quite confident I can build other beams that will actually radiate.

What I am thinking about is building a 4 element 15m beam for portable use. I found a very interesting compact design by G0KSC - the OM who developed the LFA beams. Mechanically I will have to implement some changes to the design to make it into a portable version.

The reason for choosing a 15m beam is that the 10m band is closed most of the time (especially this time of the year) and I only have a few opportunities to go out and be radio-active (mainly Wednesday mornings). The chances of finding a lively 10m band at that specific moment are slim.
The same cannot be said of the 15m band. It is far more often open for DX. In that respect 20m might be an even better choice but I also have to take dimensions into account.

As we are moving towards a sun spot minimum I am also considering a Moxon for 40m. My hexbeam covers 6m down to 20m. For 40m I now have the choice of a (shortened) vertical end fed or a full size inverted V. Both are not extremely effective for DX. 
More effective is my shortened dipole by Ventenna. That recently got me across the Atlantic (RTTY contest). But it would be great to have a 2 element beam for this band.
The challenge of course is how to design it in such a way that it becomes a truly portable antenna... something to think about this year..