I never have built an antenna before.Well, there have been times when I
have clipped a few feet of wire on to some radios that already had a
factory installed antenna, but that's not the same thing.Wire is cheap,
just ask dxAce.Take a look at his back yard antenna.I bet the most cost
of that antenna are the wooden post he bought to stick in the ground.

One of my old off the wall brand name cheapo AM/FM/Shortwave table model
radios (it was old when I bought it) I bought at a Goodwill store about
fourteen years ago, I clipped one end of an old lonnnnggg extension cord
to the radio's antenna.That extension cord was so lonnng, I draped that
cord from my radio and from my living room and through my dining room
and through where my dining room leads from my kitchen and along tha
hall and back to my living room over to my front door.That rig of a
so-called antenna worked pretty good for that old radio.
cuhulin