I could also comment on the antenna question,
personally I mainly use the Dressler ARA-2000 active antenna
but a good discone with a low noise preamp would be just as fine.

Preamps are usually required on high frequencies due to signal loss
in the cable, so to overcome the noise you'd use a preamp.
(well, technically you use a line-amp. to overcome the cable loss
and low noise preamp to increase sensitivity)
I'd go with active antennas for any UHF reception.

1GHz (microwave) you mainly use directive antennas,
dish and/or horn or yagi is most common and very effective,
though very narrow band, you won't find anything to cover
1-3GHz, you'd probably not have more than 0.1GHz span
using a helix so you'll need an antenna for every purpose.....

//Greg

(excuse me for improper pronunciation and/or formulation,
I'm not from UK, I'm swedish