Thanks for the replies! Yesterday I connected my random wire to the
center of my coax and strung it down to the basement. It seems to work,
but there is still some noise. I don't really have anything to compare
it to though.

I'll research the noise filters and see what I can find. Is the W2DU
balun something I should still consider? The "wire man" has several and
they are fairly inexpensive, so I could at least try one.

I don't know a lot about how propagation works, but does it seem normal
that In the early evening I could hear WWV on 10, but not 2.5, 5, or
any other frequency, then late at night I couldn't even hear it on 10?
This morning it was again coming in loud and clear on 10, but not any
other frequency.