First off, the folks have given you correct advice here, if you are closer that, I think 2.5 miles and over certain heights you need to paint and light the top of the tower. Good luck on the instalation, and with your new setup..have you considered a small wind turbine up there like the Air 403, they put out around 500 watts of free power and are under $500 or so, not a bad deal...and you can use your radio when the power is off...BTW who is climbing the tower to do the work?? Be safe, wear a belt and gloves.
Second , congrats on wanting to become a ham. I garrentee you will have a lot of fun with it. Take the practice Ham Exams here and on qrz.com to see how you are doing on the theory part. There are many ways to learn the code but do a little on it every day in a month or so you will have it down. Don't knock your past as a C.B.er, lots of hams have come from there. Its all radio. The big diffrence is that Most hams are nice and polite and you have more room and more Legal power. I have an old c.b. in my station, I turn it on and if the skip is in on CB then I know 10 meters should be good..
Welcome to the fraternity of hamdom.. remember its not about radio, its about people... enjoy
tom, N6AJR