VHF Antenna swap

Connections to the packet side fell of a cliff. Finally pulled the coax and the SWR was 9. Swapped in the APRS antenna so packet and VARA FM should be back online. Might be a while before a diagnosis can be performed on the failed antenna.

Update posted 10/20/25 written ~08/25:
Below I’ve included my personal notes on installing Ed Fong antennas that I’ve gleaned either from Ed himself or my experience with them over the past year.
The bottom approx. six inches in the pipe is just coax and not active antenna. This is for clamp mounting to a mast.
Gluing/cementing the top cap is optional. If you are suspending the antenna from the top it is highly recommended. Gluing the bottom cap (with the coax connection) WILL void your warranty. These still seal quite well with compression.
Paint of some kind is strongly encouraged. PVC degrades under UV light. Ed recommends regular rustoleum (avoid metallic colors, hammered textures, etc.) I’ve had success with tan for blending with trees and grey for blending with the sky. Another option I’ve experimented with to much success is vinyl dye from auto parts stores.
Once coax is connected, I use a long section of coax wrap or Keeney miracle wrap starting from the coax below the connector and moving up followed by electrical tape covering that completely.
I recently experienced a failure of one of my antennas that had been up for about a year. It was suspended from the top and I believe the weight of the coax (heavy KMR400) and movement in the wind caused the nut to loosen while also expanding the hole. Eventually this movement caused a failure at the solder joint in the center conductor within the antenna. This was a very simple repair but to prevent repeat failure I used electrical tape running vertically followed by the procedure in the last bullet point. If you’re mounting to a mast you likely won’t have a risk of this issue but you could include a service loop in your coax to remove any weight on that connection.

Sorry, I had pictures and combined they are under the file size maximum but are over the pixel maximum. I may come back with those pics later.