Radios - You are going to spend about $100 for a decent FM radio and yes, you should get an FM radio. If you just don't have the bucks AM radios start at about $60. Always use the pistol style radio with a "surface" frequency. All brands seem to be good but, Futaba ranks the highest. Although we have used other brands with good results too. Other name brand radios to look for are Airtronics and HiTec. The main thing is to get a radio with the features (see a list below) you need on your boat.
                 
Futaba                                           HiTec                                             Airtronics MX-3
These are examples of the different "Pistol" style radios available.

Always check your frequency before you start your boat! You can do this a couple of ways: 1) turn on your receiver in the boat and see if your servos start "glitching". 2) If you are at a R/C pond officially check out the frequency. If you can never get a clear frequency, change the frequency crystal in the Receiver (RX) and in the Transmitter (TX). Just be sure to get frequencies that match your radios band of 75Mhz or 27Mhz.

           
Typical AM 2 Channel Receiver                    AM Receiver Crystal                                Servo Sizes available.

Next, get rechargeable batteries for your radio and the receiver. The land fills are bad enough! For years NiCad's were not good enough. But NOW they make really good AA sized batteries that will last an entire day+ and they are affordable. Select the proper size receiver battery to meet your running and weight requirements (i.e.: 700mA runs for 4 hours) so if you want to run all day get (2) battery packs or (1) 1400mA pack.
       
You can buy custom packs or use AA rechargeable NiCad's in your boat and radio.

Seal your receiver, batteries and servos good! Water seems to have a way of getting into everything. Build a watertight radio box and/or use waterproof bags (Kyosho makes a good one, #TR12) to seal out the moisture. If moisture does get in your radios components, open them up and let them air out. After that they should be fine (if nothing shorted out). If something did short out, it's usually in the receiver. Do not take any chances, replace it. Hitec (shown below) makes a good small one for about $30.
 
Water proof bag looks like a big balloon      I know it is not pretty but, silicone the joints of each connector

Different Radio "Upgrade" features & definitions:

• Servo Reversing (the ability to switch the direction the servo turns from the radio after the servos are installed in the model).
• On-the-fly variable rate steering and throttle (makes the model easier to control at high speed).
• Multiple model memory (keeps all the throttle & steering settings for each model).
• Better grade servos (heavy duty, ball bearing, metal gears, higher speed, lighter).
• AM or FM or PCM (the "band" which radio and model communicate on, some are less used like FM or exclusive like PCM).
• 27Mhz or 75Mhz (the "frequency" which radio and model communicate on).
• Servo limit adjustments (wastes no motion, helps to not over steer the boat).

Don't forget to add a good "Fail Safe" device to your boat to keep it from running away. They are small in size and fairly cheap (about $30), it just plugs into your receiver on board your boat.

For more information about Chargers or where to buy radios or accessories.