in apartment swl antenna (aka aerial)

[N1KTJ]

does anyone have a great suggestion for an INSIDE THE APARTMENT SWL antenna?  i really can not hang anything outside, and would like to get some gain or even directional antenna, as i can do a manual direction tuning. thanks for suggestions. something that is complete would be nice.

[KB8VIV]

These are supposed to be pretty good:

http://www.wellbrook.uk.com/index.html

kb8viv

[K0OD]

You're providing almost no info.

What frequencies and services are you most interested in? Do you currently live in this apartment?  Main goal of an apartment antenna is usually to reduce man made noise which is often the major limiting factor. Can you run a simple thin wire out a window? What floor in this apartment are you on? What kind of receiving equipment will you use? If it is a tall building, what is is made from? 

[KB4QAA]

There is no special requirements for an ordinary inside SWL antenna.  A piece of insulated wire anywhere between 10-25 feet long will do fine.  Drape it over the curtain rods, pin it to the ceiling around the perimeter of the room, hang it vertically in a stair well, whatever.   You will likely have less man made electrical interference if it is mounted horizontally, but experiment.

If it's silly and it works, it's not silly".    bill

[K0OD]

I lived in about the tallest high rise apartment building in St Louis for many years. Luckily I had a nice balcony on the 18th floor and windows that opened. Radio signals did not penetrate it. I actually spoke (on the air)  to a ham who was a main design engineer on its construction years before. He assured me it was VERY well built from concrete and steel beams. I've lived on the south side of the building. You could hear almost nothing from the north.

In such a building you'd probably be best to tape wire along a window or use the metal window frame.  Who knows how a loop would work near metal beams hidden in concrete? Or even closer to metal lath in walls?

The trick is to experiment. Yes, a piece of wire out a window may work as well as anything.

[WB6TNB]

I use Radio Shack 23 foot windup wire antennas. They work well and are portable. They don't sell them anymore but other companies make them. They either clip to the whip or terminate in a mini plug. I just checked eBay and found quite a few.

[HFCRUSR]

For a while I used a metal tape measure as a sort of endfed deally. Don't laugh, that sucker worked pretty well. I just put an alligator clip at the end of it to clamp onto the whip. Best part is when you're done un hook it and retract it out of sight

[KJ6ZOL]

Speaker wire and LOTS of duct tape. Landlord said no nails, so I got a roll of speaker wire and taped it to the ceiling, NW <-> SE. If you go this route, put a piece of duct tape perpendicular to the wire to hold it, then put two pieces on either end of that piece to hold the weight of the wire. This was a LONG time ago. Also tried a homemade beverage antenna, speaker wire wrapped around a 1/2" PVC pipe. So finicky I felt like you had to learn tai chi to tune it. I find that if you buy a radio like the Tecsun 660, the supplied external aerial is all you need.