I'm not quite sure, but I don't think that it is legal, according to the Part 97 to transmit a carrier without saying anything.

One other thing - as Columbo would say, the SWR meter does not indicate resonance, it only tells you what the feed line tells it. By changing the length of the coax you can make the antenna appear as being resonant or non resonant, even though the antenna may or may not be a perfect 50 ohm load.

Instead of taking down the antenna and looking at the components, you chose to visit this forum and ask us to look into our crystal ball for a solution to your problem.

There is no way for sure for us to know how the PL connectors were installed, the condition of the coax you used for a feed line, the condition of the coax you used to build the antenna and the soldered connectors in between each and every junction.

ONE guess would be that you have a intermittent loose connection and today it chose to work and tomorrow when it rains, snows, wind blows etc, it might not make contact and present a high swr as you put it.

Find someone with an antenna analyzer to diagnose your problem for you.