RE: Why can't you just get the radio!
Probably for the same reason it's always been a hassle to buy eggs without the shell. I don't eat the shell...I don't want the shell....why to the darned chickens insist on tossing that into the deal??? I just don't get it.
Actually I do get it.
It's much easier from a distribution, and inventory standpoint to sell the radio one way: "With Servos". Most airplanes/helis need servos. Yours might not. Your friends might not, but most folks are going to want some servos.
Now that being said....many LHS's will be happy to sell you the TX/RX sans servos. They'll do this because there's a group of people who'll buy those servos in a heartbeat. The DS-821's are a really good sport servo, and the LHS stands to make a few more bucks on the deal by parting out your radio.
The WISE MAN however....would buy the radio with servos, and sell them on fleabay. You can get $20/ea for them, plus a butt-load in exorbitant shipping costs, and get your end price of the radio well beneath the $300 level. THAT is how to do it.