One of the reasons I bring this up a lot, it that I was in the same position once. Recently out of the service, married with a baby, and little income.

But I HAD to fly!

I was 3000 mi away from the rest of my family (so no access to dad's stuff) and I found a 2-channel Futaba radio in a pawn shop. This was my first Futaba radio - Talk about a "step DOWN"! In those days, if you came to the field with anything but the industry standard [Kraft] you were laughed at!

Imagine... buying a JAPANESE RADIO!

I then scratch built a small sailplane, and had a ball with it.

It was years before I had the time and money to get back into it full swing.

But I still had lots of fun in the meantime!