Will try the quarter wave with 4 radials.
There's pretty much line of site to any plane if I toss an antenna on the roof or porch and it's just the operations at the airport I can't receive. Any noise below the antenna is just that, and not needed at all.
Stronger transmissions like the weather channels which transmit off a tower come in clear, even with my antenna removed or even capped off with a 50ohm terminator.