Noel, Steve is an expert in Amateur radio. I recently acquired several thousand feet of brand new CATV hardline. Luckily, I have a lathe and milling machine. I make a simple CATV to type N (or SO-239) connectors. I can make those for 1/2 Andrews also. The installation requires that you drill and tap a small hole. I use the 7/8" CATV from the amp to the top of the tower and at that point, switch to RG-11 (same imp. as the CATV hardline) right up to the antenna  connector.
As Steve will tell you, don't worry about worshiping a perfect SWR. I don't try to rotate the CATV stuff due to it's aluminum construction. It would work-harden and break pretty quickly.....
ron

N4UE

Shane, you asked for an opinion, so here it is.....
The suggestion to roll your own, is probably the best. Materials are inexpensive and information abounds. Plus, you will have the satisfaction of 'bragging rights'. If you're not mechanically inclined (that's fine), there are several commercial sources of antennas. I have always liked Cushcraft. The antennas are quite simple and rugged. I have had several CC 6 meter antennas, including several I 'redesigned' and made into long 7 element yagis. They worked well.
When I moved to this location, I put the 7 element antenna up, then modified it according to W3CCX (club station) suggestions, using Yagi Optimizer. This reduced it to a 5 el with a shorter boom. It worked well with the Gamma match and Tee match.
Just for fun, I put up a new M2 JHV. I won't go into the gruesome details here, please read my 'review' here in e.ham.
One thing about antenna gain claims: take them with a grain of salt. Somewhere on the WWW there is a graph of gain versus elements/boomlength. These are plotted against the famous NBS design, which is considered the standard. There is one thing that makes gain = boomlength. You can clean up the side lobes with interelement spacing and element lengths, but you don't 'make' power, but you can focus it into an ever more narrow main lobe. This comes at a cost of bandwidth, mechanical problems, and diminishing returns, etc. The CC Boomer (which is a very nice antenna) appears to be rated too high in reference to the other antennas in it's class. These are all Mfg. claims, of course. Some mfg. forget details such as 'gain over a dipole' or 'gain over isotropic', which 'looks' better, but is purely theoretical.

I will be more than glad to discuss this with you further, here or directly.

ron

N4UE

Is this Steve Katz?
This is Ron (ex N4KCM).......
Yes, the TR-6 is STILL the 'standard' against which I judge all of the 6 Meter radios that come through here. I have a 756PRO and 706g and while they are packed with more feature / function than one will ever need, the 'ole TR-6 will still hear very, very well.
Do you still have the property in PA?

ron
N4UE

This topic has generated some wonderful, intelligent responses. Currently, I live in an older subdivision in Central Kentucky. The YL retired last year (at 48) and I will retire in March. Our subdivision has no restrictions and I have erected a 70' tower. However, right across my back fence, the beautiful 250 acre farm is now being developed and it DOES have restrictions. Anyway, the YL wants a 'new' house. We have searched high and low. Since she is OK with my hobbies, the first place I looked was in eastern Ky. Land here is still cheap and it's very hilly. Unfortunatly, every 'ideal' ham QTH had either a mobile home on it, a microwave tower or huge power lines. We found out about some property in a neighboring county. Consulting topo maps, etc, revealed that the property was within 10 feet of being the highest spot in the County. Gently rolling hills. Although only 5 miles from town, there wasn't even AC power out there. So far, so good. Hmmmmm, price of a beautiful 5 acre lot was a real bargin. Just down the road were some VERY nice homes in the $250K range. So we buy this lot. NO restrictions. OK, we're pouring over house plans, and the lot next to us sold. Guy plops down a trailer, er, mobile home. Not too bad to deal with. Next, he moves in his 'fightin' chickens', oh oh.... Next, he puts up an electric fence to protect the chickens. So our little piece of heaven just had the value shot to heck. Last (but not least) I find out the whole County has a 35' limit on towers. Evidently, this is easily appealed, as least according to a friend who has two 140' footers in the same County.
We looked long and hard for 'good' property. Most developments said "No sir, you cannot park your RV where it can be seen from the street" and "you may build a 'shop', but it has to be X square feet and match your house".
I agree with the earlier posting about this being a 'free' country and those 'rights and privaliges' are being restricted on EVERY front, not just ham radio.
We are taking a trip West when I retire, and I hope we can find some secluded area to live out our years in peace.
ron
N4UE

Hi, I 'hate' heat in any radio. I make and sell 'kits' for the Drake like of radios. However, I have added cooling fans to my Icoms, Collins, etc. On my 756 PRO, I added a small muffin fan (and duct) to the rear of the radio. It sucks air out the back. Although the radio has an internal fan, it only comes on during xmit. When receiving for long periods, the radio gets warm , but not dangerously so.
I took the PS plate off of my 271A and made a replacement using a processor cooling fan. Super small and it keeps the radio very cool.
I spoke to a chap today who had an R-9000. He forgot and left it on overnight and the heat cause lots of solder joint problems. This isn't very cool for a $5000 radio!

ron

N4UE

I have a PRO and just love it. The radio gets
slightly warm when left on for long periods. However, as soon as you transmit, the internal fan turns on (very quiet). I hate heat in any radio and have added a small fan to the back that runs inaudibly and sucks air out of the radio. Now, I can leave the radio on forever and the case is still at room ambient.

nice radio, but save your money, the 785 is coming!

ron

Hi Glenn. Here's the way I do it.....
If your antenna feedline is terminated in a PL-259, take an SO-239 and solder a couple of loops of wire to it. Make the loops the same diameter as the coil on the dip meter. Connect the SO to the PL and insert the dipper coil (of the correct range) into your 'pigtail loop'. You should see a nice dip as you pass resonance. I use an old Lafayette tube type dipper and it works great all the way to VHF.

73 ron

These are great discusions, but I have always considered the 'takeoff angle' of the type of antenna in use. Most of the better manufacturers will have plots for not only the H but also the E plane. Using some simple trig will tell you if your signal is going to 'make it over' the obstruction in front of you.
I can remember one experience I had while hilltopping up in NH back in the 70's. About 3000' up....
I was using a correctly spaced and phased pair of 3 el 6 Meter yagis. Running 5 Watts (AM!!), my usual range from this particular mountain was 400 miles or so. One spring day, the band opened for some good Es. I could hear a lot, but could never get a response. Drove to the home QTH and joined in on the fun.
Cause? I can only guess that my angle of radiation put my signal into areas that the Es cloud was NOT mutually accessable.
Any comments?

ron

N4UE

I agree with the responses here. Minimize the swr the radio sees. Finals will be happier and you will get max power out. I'm ready for the flames on this one, but too many people worship low swr. Please refer to the 2000 issue of the ARRL Handbook and read the sectiion on SWR 'myths'. If the signal gets to the antenna it will radiate.
Remember the company years ago that claimed to sell thousands of dipole antennas to the military? The ARRL x-rayed the dipole's center connector and found a big 'ole 50 ohm resistor. No wonder the company claimed "all band - 1:1 SWR"......

that was funny


ron

N4UE

Scott, this is what I have done several times. Just go to Cushcraft's web site and you will be able to down load the A50-5 assembly manual. If tou want to experiment, look at the modifications Dallas did to a Boomer to shorten it up. W3CXX webpage, I believe. The A50-5 will do a good job. After that, gain starts to require an exponentional increase in boom length.

ron

N4UE

Hi, while I have never used this particular model, it is probably designed after the old 'discone' model. The 'cone' of the discone, provides the ground plane. The are usually effective over a frequency octave or so. I have no doubt it will work. However, a better question is how well. In order to answer this, just have your radio tell you. If you have a radio like an Icom 706g or anything with a built in power output meter, it will tell you. Most modern rigs will 'fold back the power' if the swr is too high. In order to accurately measure on 432 Mhz you're probably gonna have to use a good meter, like a Bird 43 anyway.
Here's a low buck check. Make a dummy load or buy one at RS. You can make a good one out of a short piece of coax, just connect a small 50 ohm (non inductive) resistor to the coax with the shortest possible leads. Lower the power so you don't smoke the resistor. Transmit into the dummy load, notice the output indication. Don't touch anything on the radio, but switch to the antenna and compare power out.
If thy are the same your antenna has close to 50 ohm imped at that frequency.

Ron

N4UE