I'm trying to create a largish ferrite receiver antenna tuned
exclusively to the 457khz range. I was going to get the ferrite rod
from he

http://www.stormwise.com/page26.htm

As I only need the single frequency I was wondering if it was more
effective to make a self-resonant antenna?, or does a capacitor not
decrease quality of the single?

Secondlly, I have very little experience in the radio world, and was
considering following am radio plans similar to this to attach my
antenna to:
http://www.stormwise.com/page56.htm

Just swapping the variable capacitor for a fixed one tuned to my
frequency.

Is this the optimal way to get the strongest signal? Can anyone point
me in a direction to get more information on how to build such a
receiver? Most important is the range of the antenna in picking up
very weak signals.

Thanks,
Chris