4 channel is plenty good. Airtronics, Futaba, Hitec, JR; all good brands that sell basic complete systems as well as very complicated ones.
Hopefully you'll be able to connect with the instructor.
You don't really need a deflection meter or cg machine. A ruler is a good deflection meter and you can use your fingers (or dowels with pencil erasers as pads) to check CG.