I didn't read the whole thread so excuse me if this is a repeat.
As everybody knows the remotes use radio frequency. That frequency is like a wave. For arguments sake lets say that wave is 10 feet from peak to peak. Now if you decide to make an antenna, ideally your antenna should be 10 feet long. At least in a perfect world. BUT you can divide up that wave and get pretty good performance. You can go 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, etc wave. Of course the shorter the antenna the poorer the performance. Using an odd length will degrade the signal catching capicity. So if you decide to do this antenna mod just make sure you use the correct length.
Ken