Depending on your finances it would be good to get the best you can afford to buy.I run the Futaba 9CHPS but it is a radio that cost me $450.00 there might be a place to get it cheaper if you look around.As for sim software there is only one that is great in my book and that is the Reflex XTR and with this one you do need your own radio because that is what you learn with on the sim.The radio that you purchase needs to be a Heli radio not a airplane radio and as for brand I like Futaba but if you cannot afford a Futaba,Hitec is acceptable but I would only look at the Hitec Optic 6 or the Hitec Eclipse 7.The sim is really the way to start out because you can crash all you want and only have to hit reset and not dig into your bank account to fix the crashes,it is worth it's weight in Gold for sure when it comes to learning the finer points of this hobby.I think that the Futaba 7 Channel radio is good but I cannot say first hand since I have only seen pictures of it.What ever you do research it first and then find what you like because you are the one that has to like it and learn with it and spend your money on it.And last but not least you need a good computer with a good graphics card to run today's sims so you need to check and see if your computer will run it and if you have a laptop forget it,it will not work because I have a laptop that is only 6 months old and Reflex will not run on it.[&o]