I've done that, too. I am in Florida, USA. With this kind of antenna and 10 watts, making contact is REALLY hard. Having a huge loss caused by mismatch and a compromise antenna doesn't do any good either. Receiving works well because Ham grade receivers are hugely (and often overly) sensitive. QRP (small power contact) is nice but only possible if your location is excellent or your antenna is superb, or you are just lucky.
You may have a different experience if you put a match box right at the bottom of the antenna (before coax), have a good ground, and have a good match. Even then, low height and compromise antenna will hinder you.
There are two types of antennas. Resonant antenna and non-resonant antenna. Dipole is a resonant antenna. One length of antenna works on one band and odd multiple. Say you make an antenna for 7Mhz band. It will also work for 21Mhz, but not on 14Mhz. What you have is a non-resonant antenna. One antenna works on all bands PROVIDED you have a suitable matching network. This network needs to be BEFORE coax because mismatch in coax is awfully lossy.
One more thing.... If you are using more recent transceivers, transmitter will "fold back" meaning power down if you try to transmit into less than good antenna. Otherwise, your rig can overheat and pop expensive transistors/FETs.
My suggestion is, to make a dipole and invest in an inexpensive SWR meter. 7Mhz and 14Mhz are quite active, so you can choose depending on your licence and location. Get a good match, say less than VSWR 1.5. You really don't need balun. I know the theory but I've done both and I can't tell any difference. How we do things makes our antenna really not so well balanced anyway.
I've been a ham for 40 years with inactivity in the middle. Please feel free to ask me anything and I will help when I can. I believe there are more hams here as well.