Since i'm mostly active on 160 or low bands and live on the edge of the town, the 77 feet high inverted L with 3000+ feet of radials doesn't make it difficult to put out a decent signal on 160 - 20 meter with the MFJ 998 autotuner fed at the bottom of the L.
Most of us not blessed with a shack in the woods far from civilisation, and have the problem to recieve, and no place to put up beverages or even a K9AY loop.
I made a amplified magnetic loop with a long tailed pair of BFW16A ( 1.1 GHz Ft ) transisters, and found the next building project to get even less noise and more usable signal.
http://pa0fri.home.xs4all.nl/Ant/Act...enna%20eng.htm
Description there, including schematic diagram, the ina 02186 MMIC can be had on the internutz cheap.
Rest is junkbox material, for the loop you can also use a 13 feet section of RG 213 if coppertube is too expensive.
Í oredered 10 of the MMIC's if they arrive the next building project is on the table.