cmor wrote:
Great thought on making it directional, hopefully even the slow cousin
can figure out how to wrap foil.

As for the receiver would a simple MK484 based one suffice? Or would a
Superheterodyne provide better performance?

Lastly is their a cheap commercially available receiver I could plug
my antenna into to compare the performance to my home built one?

Thanks,
Chris

The MK484 should be a good device for your project, almost everything
you need on a single chip. I have used the ZN414, these devices were
fun to play with ...

Ham swaps are a good place to look for "cheap" equipment ...

You should be able to set up the MK484 as "hot" as you would like ...
why bother with looking for other equip? Chuck a low noise MMIC in
front and off 'ya go ... as others point out, noise will be your only
limiting factor.

Would be interested in how your final project turns out ... keep me
posted if possible ...

Regards,
JS