Hi praedo, welcome to the addiction!!!!....I mean hobby, First the 9CA is an easy to program user friendly radio..I have one and wish I would have bought it to start with! you can use any receiver that uses negative shift. with as many channels as you need....up to 8 in PPM. the ninth channel is only usable in PCM in an on/off configuration. I use mostly hitech super slim 8 channel receivers in my planes. There is a book written by Annmarie Cross on the programming the 9CA I hear it is an excellent tool for a beginner with computer radios.

Good Luck and happy flying!