but I need my silver coliodial...

my rule of thumb is 1/2 wave length minimum.

As a rule of thumb, I try to set them at least 1/2 wave of the higher freq. so if 6 m is on the bottom, then 2 meters would be a minimum of 39 inches above.  if they are verticle  go from the top of the tallest element. then 440 would be about 16 inches up and 1.2 would be 5 nches above, but set then as far apart as you can.  another trick it to place some of them point 90 degrees to the other and there is less interferance. or even if they are rear mount, put them 180 out from each other.

and write it down.  Often you can make a matrix with bottom, center and top freqs on each band so if you are using cw, you put the amp at the settings for the bottom of that band  ( on that antenna  any how) and you can tweak it while sending the first couple of  letters.

I remember making mars calls home from viet nam and korea, back in the late 1960's, and later I even passed a few messages as an air force mars guy,but now that is not necessary when you can call anyone world wide for free or next to nothing.  I remember when calling in and getting on the Goldwater net, the long distance call from arizona to your home was free because senator Barry Goldwater let MARS use his ORTS lines for free call  from mars.  Hello Ma, over..

Get a 20/30/40 foot push up mast.  pound a pipe into the ground about 2 or 2 1/2 fee that is large enough to let the bottom of the push up mast fit inside. Put the push up mast in the  pipe and put the antenna on the top section. ( it will only be up about 8 feet with the bottom of the mast in the other pipe). attach  some slightly "too long" guys to the top section and raise the mast up the top 10 feet.  now put some guys at the top of the next section, pin the first piece, and then run the second piece up, do this again till it is all the way up. then attach all of the guys to their  anchor points, and you are done. you Can now run this antenna up and down any time you  need to.  The first section in the pipe steadies the base, and the guys hold it when raises.  do not raise or lower when the wind is blowing.

go for it, every little bit helps.

do not, I repeat do not use steel wool to shine up your  antennas, the little steel fibers get stuck in every thing and cause problems.  If you must clean the elements use those little scrubber pads with the sponge on one side, and the scratchy plastic stuff on the other side.

But,  ( here is the drum roll, wait for it, wait for it...) some of the new ones come with a CD with all the stuff on it like the free stuff you can down load off the net such as modeling software.   

Check with the folks at Texas Towers or Glen Martin and see what they think.  You could probably use a thick walled aluminum or perhaps go Down a couple of feet on your tower, bolt in a cross bar and stick your antennas out to the side of the tower far enough from the tower to allow rotation.  Like the 440 beam and the 220 beam  on opposite ends of a cross bar on opposite sides of the tower with each on its own little RS rotor, and then go down another couple of feet and put on a second cross bar on the tower and put the 2m vert on one side and the 2 m horz on the other.   this would leave you with a shorter mast.

I listen to the whole signal  and then assign a  number to it as I see fit, if it is strong, clean  and nicely melodious, it is 599 if I have to turn up my volume, and it sounds like someone stepping on the tail of a cat, then that is a 2/5/3. There is no " real" way to be exact as it is subjective to the listener.  So a goof strong signal is what you are listening for.  in a contest its always 599 and in a rag chew it can  be sent as a "weak signal, with a chirp and ac hum, " all spelled out, ( the key here is rag chew, you can spend some time being selective and explain) so pick a number, and don't worry about it.

One of our local police takes  old cell phones ( with a charger) and they give them to battered women .  the "dead " cell phone will still call 911 if they need help. a lot of time the distressed family has moved away from home and has no  wired phone in the house. So the dead cell phone  gives them a way to call for help.

that will be a great choice, see if there is a local ham who can tutor you on its operation, and you will need a cable with RCA jacks on both ends for the RLY connection.

auto parts stores also still carry the "old style" tube fuse in 12 v ratings.

How about adding an external tuner to the amp.  I actually prefer a switched inductor on any type of tuner as the roller ones take too long to use, and don't function much better in my view, But a tuner will probably be better, or even think about a tuneable antenna like a steppir vertical.