Water pipes can be a good substitute; just don't be surprised if the
building's fire sprinklers go off, or other odd things. Sometimes the water
systems are tied together, and random RF can do strange things.

Another good ground substitute is a counterpoinse. Cut 1/4-wave wire for
each band (or sub-band) you wish to operate. Attatch the wires to the
grounding lug on your antenna tuner or radio (if there is no tuner). Run
the wires around the baseboards of your apartment. This can also be
augmented by artificial ground devices...

Good luck
Mike KI6PR
El Rancho R.F., CA

"g subs" wrote
how do you ground an antenna , if you live in a hight rise building
here in chicago, most of the building are sourrunded by concrete and
there is no open soil, i have cold water pipe here , can that work ?
or should i get some ground rods and drive it thru the concrete to
make my ground?