Is there any way to bypass DTEC's range limitation of 25 short of modding TPT?

So far, I've tried:

• Setting DTEC's range to a negative number (failed)
• Setting DTEC's range to >25 (failed)
• Putting DTEC with .TMP2 of 9999 in stasis wall, then using solid SPRK to drive DRAY  to copy the DTEC (failed)

WHY DOES THIS LINE OF CODE HAVE TO EXIST:

if (rd > 25) parts[i].tmp2 = rd = 25;