Hardware design is a pretty broad term. As well costs and length of time are variables depending on project complexity. Feel free to contact me - email is in my profile.
It was a strong radiator (perhaps broadband) and that makes it easy to geo-locate. You can use distributed mobile sensors and TDOA to pinpoint the location.
That is a very good question. With web searches you can find a lot of information on hardware - no doubt. Wikipedia is an excellent resource. As is Youtube. However you might agree that there is a difference between studying EE and hardware design through a text book in a coherent way and assembling that information from various different sources. Equally important is having someone to answer your questions on the subject matter.