Re your antenna question --
Antennas can be very simple or very complex. But for example --
A simple center-fed half-wave dipole (about 17 feet long in your case) operated at its resonant frequency, and in free space or well away from everything else looks like a pure resistance of about 75 ohms. Incoming signals can be represented by a voltage source (modulated or otherwise) in series with this.
A quarter-wave whip antenna (around 8.5 feet long in your case) on an ideal ground plane acts like half a dipole, so ideally looks like a pure resistance of around 37 ohms.
These simple antennas have a useful bandwidth of a few percent; outside this range, they develop significant series reactance, and the resistance also changes.
Depending on your situation, these simple antennas may be practical. If you want to look further afield, EZNEC? (eznec.com) is? a good antenna analysis program -- it comes in demo and paid versions, with a good manual and examples.
As a general comment --
Making a small antenna is very easy.
Making a good antenna is easy (see above)
Making a good, small antenna can be very difficult.
Hope this is useful
Bob
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