Soaring is a fantastic hobby that will provide you with countless hours of fun. Welcome!

My advice is to get a radio with as many channels as you can afford.
For an electric glider a minimum of 3 channels are needed (elevator, rudder and motor control).

If you get hooked by this wonderful hobby you will soon want to try aileron equipped aircraft. Nowadays it's common practice to use one servo for each aileron making for a total of 5 channels (elevator, rudder, 2xailerons and throttle). You will find several 6 channel computer radios to choose between at reasonable prices.

An advanced glider will often use 8 channels (or more) for rudder, elevator, 2 ailerons, 2 flaps, throttle and retractable landing gear.

Make sure that you get rechargable batteries with your radio, because even with a glider for beginners flight times can easily exceed 1/2 hour per flight.

That said, my first radio was a 3-channel radio, because I couldn't afford anything better at that time. It served me well :-).

/Red B.