First I'll say, welcome to RCU. Great place with a lot of terrific people, all more than willing to give advice and their opinions.

Most computer radios have the capability to switch between PPM and PCM, so I wouldn't worry about that for now. But keep in mind that PCM recievers are at least twice the cost of PPM.

I too would like to know your level of experience. Any one of today's radios are pretty much equal in reliability and quality, some are a bit easier to program, and I believe the Futaba 7C series is one of the easier ones.

However, I believe that the Eclipse 7 has a module available that lets you change between channels. So it really epends on what features you're looking for.
Dennis-