You might consider calculating the cost and seeing if buying a lower end Spektrum radio to start off with makes sense. I see DX6i's going for about $100 used and receivers around $35. So it's not to hard to figure you can get that back out of one. If that's less of a loss than buying a buddy box for the A9 then it makes sense to buy a Spektrum radio and use the club's buddy boxes. One thing to note though is that not all Spektrums are compatible with each other (yet another reason I despise the brand). I'm not terribly experienced with them, but a trainee pilot at my club tried connecting a DX7 with a DX6 (I don't know if it was a 6 or a 6i) and they wouldn't work. So you may need to get verification from your instructor on exactly which buddy boxes they have and make sure you buy a radio that can work with them.