I have to agree with CW's assessment of the broomstick antenna. I've attempted
the broomstick antenna a thousand ways from Sunday (with capacitance hat,
without, tuner, no tuner, larger stick, spaced windings, on and on) and it just
doesn't perform as well as almost any decent length of wire you can get
outside. My last attempt was a 6' long stick, tightly wound, with a 40' sloper
atop it, and the sloper by itself was better than the entire configuration.
Try the sloper idea first, assuming you have the room for it.
Or, a simple random-length wire. Tree to tree, house to tree, house to ground,
whatever you can manage. Use any kind of strong wire you have around, and if
it's insulated, remove a bit of the sleeve at the end nearest your listening
position. Attach another wire to the bared end of the aerial wire, wrap for
strength, solder well for electrical contact, and bring the other end of this
wire in to your receiver (with banana plug, alligator clip, or matching plug
for your radio's external antenna jack). You can get a whole lot more
complicated than that, but even this much will work better than the broomstick.
Good luck-
Linus