I did not notice for several days that my antenna was a half dipole. The center feed point was on the ground, because the left side of the antenna element was disconnected from the feed line perhaps due to fatigue.
It is interesting that the SWR was always around 1.0 (Yes, I have a nice ATU.), and that I observed no degradation while watching (Yes, I have nice ears.).
Anyway, it is back in the air now, and what I hear is … lots of “CQ TEST” again.