On Thu, 17 May 2007 22:24:24 -0500, "Dan"
wrote:

can anyone suggest a good homebrew antenna for general listening?

Random wire. Get some nice 20 g or so insulated wire. Use 10' for a
cheap portable; 20-30' for a portable with a 3.5 mm EXT ANT jack:
30-100' for a portable with a proper antenna jack or a desktop. Too
much antenna will swamp a cheap radio and cause all kinds of phantom
signals due to the overload. Get your wire outdoors, as high as
possible, avoiding power lines very carefully, and as far away from
metal or reinforced concrete as possible.

Remember, meters times MegaHertz equals 300.