Wow, thousands of words to try and nail-down what is really the magic of RF. If we could visualize the RF coming out of the antenna - and it's path to the Quad...you'd see it is complex and interesting. Knowing the physics behind it enables you to "imagine/predict" it because you know what it does. In practice, bizarre stuff still happens...because even digital signals like these- are analog in their movement through the air. This wacky un-predictable situation is exactly what we Ham Radio guys live for. A lot of phenomena are at work here...and their interactions provide a different operating environment every day.
I'll end it with this: Quantum theory says that the RF wave may travel on every possible path to it's destination. Also though, if you tried to view the path that was taken, it would be changed simply by your decision to observe it. I didn't say "Observe it", I said "decision to observe it". Thus, the path it has taken is modified by your decision to observe it or not....after it's made it's journey. Uh huh. Just as the future is sprayed out in front of us in a multitude of possibilities, the past took a multitude of vectors to arrive at this point. And just as your thoughts about what future might occur - may bias what actually happens, your thoughts about the past - actually modify the pathway the past took to get here. Just thought I'd add a Quantum mind cracker to this already strange thread! Bob