Frnak McKenney wrote:
Anyway, thanks for reassuring me that my poor WWV reception really
might not be due to a poor antenna design. If I ever come up with a
Really Good Solution I'll post back here.

What would help you is an outdoor active antenna. For a start look at MFJ's.
It's a metal box with an amplifier in it, and a whip antenna. It uses a
small box at the receiver end to pass DC up the coax to power it.

Placing it outside would help. Placing it outside and away from noise
sources, or on the roof would help more. A whip antenna is used because
it's a cheap commerical off-the-shelf (COTS) item. It could be replaced
with a thin wire. The coax could be replaced with a run of (more expensive)
mini-coax. This would make it easier to hide and you may be able to use it.

If you are handy with building things, there are lots of designs for similar
devices, the easiest is a single MMIC type amplfier. It may be more difficult
to actually do as they are very sensitive to static.

If all you have is a window, a loop around it would do. If it has a metal frame,
and all 4 sides are connected to each other, you can try using it as a loop.
If not, thin wire held up by transparent tape, or that metal tape used by
alarm systems would work.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838
Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/