This is highly subjective. People prefer different radios. One thing is definitely important, use something with a lot of range and fidelity. The old days of analog FM transmitters are over, and they're completely inadequate for our needs. Your transmitter should be digital, reliable, and have a good range.

For these requirements, there are really only two choices: Futaba and Spektrum. For our example, we'll be using a Spektrum system. I've found that the interface on the controller to set up Spektrum is a bit easier. I own both types of radio systems, and in the end, Futaba has sat on a shelf and gathered dust for quite a while.

We'll need at least seven channels on our radio system. A channel is defined as one item of control for our purposes. Our channels will be throttle, yaw, pitch, roll, stabilization mode (GPS on/off, attitude only, and failsafe), flight mode, and camera tilt. We'll get into stabilization modes and flight modes in the next chapter.

This leaves two...