[TriEmbed] seeking antenna recommendations for SDR

[jonjwolfe at anibit.com]

I recently picked up some RTL2832-based receiver dongles for my site( 
https://anibit.com/product/wls03001 ) and I decided to claim one for 
myself.

I'm a novice when it comes to analog RF stuff, same for SDR.

The antenna that comes with the dongle leaves a bit to be desired.

I know that there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all for antennae, 
but it there has to be one a little better for general purpose SDR than 
these. I found that just touching the end of the antenna gave me a lot 
better reception, at least in the FM radio band. (I contemplated trying 
to build something out of coat hangers and aluminum foil, for old time's 
sake)

The dongle has MCX-style connectors, which seems is not common for RF 
stuff, I should have picked up some adapters from Adafruit while I was 
at it, I will eventually.

Does anyone have recommendations for where to get a better general 
purpose antenna for the casual user?

--Jon


PS, I'd also love to hear from anyone at next meeting who has done a lot 
of cool things with SDR, it's so open-ended, it's a little hard to grasp 
all the things one can do with it.