Hello,

This isn't strictly a Ham radio question. So, I'll apologize up front.

A couple of years ago I picked up a CC AM Radio by Sangean. I love it.
Its a blast, especially at night, to try to pick up distant signals.
However, you can only play with it so much. It has an antenna screw on
the back. I've tried wiring in a piece of copper wire that looped
around my hous in an 'L' shape. That was fun, but it was also like
bringing in the world. I got alot of wierd signals (blurps and
screaches and 'dots') that I couldn't make heads or tails of. Also,
when the first thunderstorm came around I will admit to being a bit
freaked out by having a piece of copper wire hanging out the window. I
have heard from some Ham's that you can 'tune' an antenna, by length
(?), to get in certain stations, and that you can set something up to
trick a radio to think that a fixed length antenna is varying lengths.

So, to the web I went. And then I came here to usenet because frankly
there was *alot* of stuff, and I found alot of it very confusing.

So I am wondering if someone could lead me on the trail of some doc
that would help out. Do I need basic antenna theory? Is there something
easy to learn? Or can I find a diagram of something I can build and
jump right to that?

Any help would be appreciated, and again I apologize if this isn't
strictly a ham question. I am leaning that way, the fun I'm having with
this. Its just a bit daunting.

Thanks!

Jim