Hi;
I believe cushcraft came out with an r6 to replace the r5.  At the last 
time I checked they had a r9 which replaced the r8.  I had an r8 and as 
verticals go I loved it.  There was decent band width and rather low 
noise.  Just one problem, I couldn't keep the thing up.  Definitely 
needs some ropes to hold it.  My last one died when we had an ice storm 
here in October 2006.  They sell a gui rope kit which I'm not certain 
I'd recommend.  Its basically four metal stakes and some rope.  Didn't 
help much when the antenna was on the roof of a two story house.  Also 
as full sized verticals go the r8 was a heavy vertical so you needed a 
number of folks to raise it.  Wish I had another just to see if the 
noise would be as low as it was at my prior qth.
-- 
richard