With 75Mhz you do have to use the plastic tube to have the antenna stick up or you will have horrible range and glitches. If you want a clean look, you need to go to 2.4Ghz... On my vehicles with spektrum RX's the antenna tube is about 1- 1.5" long and stays completely under the body. If the reciver is the highest thing on the truck, as in a mini lst2, you don't even need an antenna tube, you can just let the short antenna roam free
