I recommend you spend money on antennas instead of tuners.  The suggestions above are good. You should consider some loading in a vertial antenna if getting 40'+ is problem.

You might consider a fiberglass pole and if it is too short wrap a few turns in the wire running up the pole.  Also, an antenna analyzer would be a big help.

Good Luck   K5KNE

Just find a short piece of pipe that will work - say 5 sticking out of the top of the tower.

With 15' tower and a 5' of pipe the antenna should work fine for local contacts.  5' or so more would not make a material difference in the coverage.

You would have to get the antenna up to about 30' to make a little difference.

Do mobiles in your area work the repeaters you want to work?  If so, why even bother with a little tower? Just use a slip up tv antenna mast hooked to the house.

Walter  K5KNE

Look on YouTube for instructional videos on antennas. there are some good videos. You can find various articles on internet about antennas.

Antenna books tend to get rather over technical and you may not be ready to get that deep into antenna theory. Most ham antennas are limited to height and space to erect them - so you will just have to try something and see if it works. Getting the antenna cut or adjusted to the right frequency is important.  Radiation patterns etc. are nice to know, but you will not likely be able to put up an optimum antenna - like the book talks about.

After 50 years of hamming and fooling with antennas I know enough to build them make them work, but there is a lot that I don't know. I recommend a tool that you would really find helpful in working with antennas.  An antenna analyzer (MFJ-259B is one) will show you exactly what your antenna is doing. As you adjust it you can see the change. It is simple to operate and if you make and check antennas it is a must tool.

73  Walter  K5KNE

An antenna analyzer is what you need to find out what the antenna is doing. Can you hear anything on the receiver? If the hf antenna is working you should hear some signals on 40 or 20 meters. If the coax is going to a vhf antenna, you won't get very good signals on hf, but should be able to hear some repeaters on 2 meters.

Is the transmitter in the CW, FM or AM position when testing for output? If you have an swr meter it should read something foward if the transmitter is working. Then try reflected and see if it is lower than the foward reading. If it is the same you do have either an open coax connection, short or something wrong with the antenna. Keeping the power low a cheap dummy load will work fine to check the transmitter. It should put out something on transmit.

Coax does go bad especially if it gets water in it. Small coax like RG-58 and RG-59 can deteriorate so that no signal will go thru it. Assuming that you have RG-8 and it was just cut off and laid on the ground for years - it probably has had water in it unless you taped up the cut off.

Putting some new coax to both antennas would be a good idea as old as your existing coax is. If that doesn't solve the problem - you still have improved your antenna situation and won't have to wonder if the coax was pretty bad. Taking the beams down is a big deal, but would certainly be a good project. There are a number of connections that probably corroded and need cleaning up for the antenna to work right. Again, a clean antenna should work as good as when it was new.

Investing in a good analyzer is worthwhile. The MFJ-259B and similar types are easy to operate and will tell the resonant frequency and SWR by simply turning a knob. IT is far better than making a series of tests on different frequencies looking for the lowest SWR.
You might contact someone in one of the radio clubs in your vicinity and they probably have someone who will be willing to help you.

Good Luck.  Walter  K5KNE

Welcome to the site. Nearly all hams showed an interest in SWLing or piddling with radio stuff before they got license. Getting a license is a lot easier than it used to be.

If you get a study guide with the questions - don't be discouraged because you don't understand a lot of the terms. Just learn the questions good enough to answer them, take the test and you have many years to start understanding the theory.  I have been licensed for over 50 years and am still learning about radio.

Walter   K5KNE 

Another Welcome.  Have a good time.

Walter  K5KNE

I suggest that you look at Heights Towers if you want something that will be really nice and you won't have to climb.

If price is a big factor - you probably won't buy one, but I have really liked mine.

Walter   K5KNE

The concrete does not have to be a perfect cube shape, but it does need to be deep enough and keyed into the surrounding soil and rock to keep it from moving.  The soil conditions are important when deciding on the best foundation - so get some advice.

What kind of tower are you planning on buying?  My tower is a Heights and is 80' with a gearmotor to lay it over parallel with the ground and about 4' off the ground. It is really nice and you won't have to climb any to work on your antennas or coax.

I opted for a 48" drilled shaft 10' deep with a rebar cage and anchor bolts for the foldover base. This is dug by a driller for bridge columns.  It has about 5 CY of concrete and quite a bit of steel. My soil is very shallow then it goes to rock and shale after about 2' down.

The whole project cost about $10,000 - 12 years ago.  Check out Heights Towers on internet.

Walter  K5KNE   Civil Engineer

An MFJ-259B or similar antenna analyzer is what you need in order to know what your  antennas are doing. It is much easier to use than trying different frequencies and checking SWR. If you know someone who has one maybe you could have him come over and check your antenna or loan it to you.  It is simple to operate and tells you the frequency where your antenna is resonant. Then you can shorten or lengthen the antenna to get it on the frequency you want.

Good Luck.

Walter  K5KNE

Look on YouTube for "dipole antennas".  There are videos that explain them.

Walter  K5KNE

You might try applying power to the 10 element just laying on a plastic trash can or something non conductive.  I believe that the antenna has a gamma match and if you put it together per the owners guide - it should be pretty close to right. If you know someone with an antenna analyzer that does 2 meters - that would be a big help in getting a decent reading on the antenna as you check things.

The problem does sound like a bad connection in the coax - you have eliminated that as a possibility.

Good Luck   Walter  K5KNE

When you get your HF rig you may just want to make a simple dipole - say for 40 meters. The main cost will be some coax.  A good tutorial on how to make a dipole is on youtube - just search for dipole antennas and you will find it.

You don't need to spend a lot of money on an antenna until you figure out which bands you really like.

Walter  K5KNE

If you will send me an email at "k5kne@swbell.net" I will be glad to answer all of your questions about how to make a good antenna.

Walter  K5KNE

What is good for the goose is good for the gander.  Do you want your wife to keep secrets from you?  I don't.

Walter  K5KNE

I used to have one of those antennas. You can buy replacement elements for some of the Cushcraft antennas.  Give them a call and see if they can sell you some replacement elements if the present elements are too short.

I had a beam that I pruned around on it and just got new elements.

Walter  K5KNE