I live in an apartment with no balcony, so reception can be a challenge.

A few years ago, I used a 32" telescoping whip I had in my spare parts box,
and wrapped the entire length in a very tight coil of small guage copper
wire. I left about 10" on the end, and screwed a large alligator clip on
it.

(I does not look like much, but in the window, it's almost invisible).

Then I take it, and I place in in the window frame between the screen and
the glass, so even if it's cold, I can still close the window almost all the
way.

I use 25 feet of small guage speaker wire with alligator clips on each end
for my end fed feedline. I can then clip it to anything. It works well
with portables of benchtop receivers. I can clip it to the antenna on top
of my old Drake SSR and make it come alive. I can clip it to the back of my
Kenwood R-300 and get the same result.

On portables, I generally do not get overload. If I do, I just hook it to my
MFJ-959B, and then I can play around with, or antennuate the signals.

It was fun, it was cheap, and it works great.