Join a club. It's the best single expediture you'll make in r/c. It depends on the club how they run their fiscal year, but most clubs will prorate the fee if it's close to the end of their year. If you get into a good, established club, your membership will include, but not be limited to: the collective experience of all its members, hands-on help any time you're at the field and need it, plenty of comiseration and rebuilding advice (and some good-natured ribbing after the sting wears off) when you bore a bole in the ground instead of the sky, the cameraderie of flying with friends (flying alone becomes really boring faster than you might think), having a "safe haven" to fly at whenever you like, and on, and on, and on....... Call around to local hobby shops, or if you've joined AMA(you HAVE joined, haven"t you?) look in the Events calendar and go to a fly-in near your home, or call one of the AMA officers in your district and ask them to recommend a club. You'll never be sorry