KevyG

What you can try to do (just an idea) is to throw a comms station probe onto the second runway on the island and have it connect to your ship that you want to launch with a dish. That will double the range of the retracted antenna and allow you to get out of the atmosphere before deploying them. All assuming you are going for a standard launch along 90 degrees, otherwise place more probes in different directions to suit your needs.