At Sun, 25 Aug 2013 13:45:00 -0600, Irv Finkleman rearranged some
electrons to write:

I am running a random wire antenna. The line runs from the back of my
tuner tand through a metal window frame about two feet away from the
rear of the tuner. I feed it through the window using a plastic tube
through a small hole drilled through the window frame. Once outside, the
wire runs a short distance to a nearby tree. I can run about fifteen
feet to the tree so it's not much better than a horizontal whip antenna.
I also wonder what the effect is if I lengthen the antenna somewhat and
drop the free end through the tree to near ground level?

My question is what effect, i.e. losses will I incur (just a rough
estimate)
by going this way? I am on the second floor of a senior's residence and
it appears that this is the best I will be able to manage. I run 5W QRP
all band CW & SSB.
Inside I use a tunable counterpoise to avoid RF burns etc.

I've been hamming for over fifty years and don't want to quit.
A little something is better than nothing!!

Any opinions or ideas on the matter are welcomed.

Thanks

Irv VE6BP

I guess I would say this: if that is all you will be able to put up,
then you should try it. I'm sure it will work, maybe not so well on the
lower bands.