I'd rather be lucky than good, any day.

For some time, I've been raising my antenna before turning it on. A long time ago, first time I flew my Meister Corsair, I decided to do a running range check. Taxii'd it to the south end of the runway, put the antenna down, and my retracts retracted. That was embarrasing. I recommend against it.

Good luck,
Dave Olson