Okay, thanks everyone. After considering all of the responses here, and reading some other posts, I think I'm going to do the really smart thing and pick up a trainer like the Tower Hobbies MkII 40 and use that to learn on while keeping my Pulse XT on hold until I get the basics down. I already have an old K&B .40 and an old Futaba Conquest 4 channel (FM FP-4NBF) that I was given to use. Both are about 10 years old but are in absolute mint condition. The engine has less than 4 hours on it, and the radio has never been used at all. The radio specs say it is a FM 72MHz system, servo reversing switch for each channel, the buddy trainer system, and has 3 low-profile servos (FP-S148). My only real concern is that this radio might be too old to be usable by a beginner, and also if it would be compatible or not with today's modern radios so that a buddy cord could be used to help train me. Even though it has the buddy cord trainer system on it, if it somehow won't buddy-up with modern radios, I guess I'll end up having to buy a new radio. So, will this Futaba do the trick, or do I now need to shop for a radio?