Phil,
Glad to hear you were talking about the crystal in the transmitter.
I hope you get the transmitter working, but again, an alternative is a CM17A (about $6 on ebay). I've used them to send garage door status and even to send temperature.
As for a scope, you can try a soundcard scope. One I like is at Soundcard Scope. It should be fast enough to see the output of the receiver.
I'll be trying the same thing you are, with the 1st goal being a "whole house" RF receiver.
(I guess I'll be learning about antennas ::))