I was watching a video one day of a guy flying one of those huge scale models of, I think it was a B-29. He flew the whole time with his antena pointed at the ground, and he didn't have a problem at all, so there is a lot of background info that backs what you say, Mike.

I tell the students to point it up only to get them started. What happens after that, well, that's up to them. I've had people at the field "warn" me to point the antenna this way or that way, so I did. But, hey, I've flown with antennas pointed in every which way and still made it ok. The only time I had a problem was when I didn't extend the stupid thing, and that wasn't the radio's fault.

CGr.