briantxgs

Thank you all for the replies. You've been a great help.

I made sure I grabbed an old pizza pan. I have two newer and better ones.

Unfortunately I only have one window with a sill and that's in my bedroom and the sill is only an inch wide. I have two windows in my living room but one is in the door to the patio and the other is in a fake door right next to it. Both go floor to the top of the doorway. They did not design these apartments very well..

Thanks.

My apartment patio faces directly south and the railing traverses east and west. Not sure how the signal travels.

I live in an apartment complex and just bought a TID Radio H8 but the shielding in my walls, not sure if it's steel or aluminum, prevents me from getting any signal out on any channel, even NOAA channels, unless I'm standing right by the window to my patio, Being I'm in an apartment, I can't drill any holes and any antenna I use must be non-permanent, I bought a mobile antenna with a magnetic mount (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09TPZ221K?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title) and although I haven't tried it yet, from what I read I need a ground plane of at least three inches around the antenna to get a decent signal, which I don't have. What I do have is a steel rail, about 1.5" in width and maybe eight feet long. I have two questions: 1) Is that enough to get a good ground plane to use a 5W GMRS radio and 2) if not, I found a steel pizza pan I don't use that is magnetic. It looks like it has some kind of coating, maybe teflon or some other non-stick surface but magnets do attach to it and is 14" in diameter. I know this is not optimal but would this work instead? I saw there is a ground plane kit on Amazon but then I'd have to buy the antenna and then the coax. Money's tight, as everyone knows, so I'm looking for the easy way out here.