If your old Futaba radio is not narrow band updated it will be illegal to ues it. Use of the older wide band radios was eliminated in 1998-99. This is a federal law. Old wide band transmitters can span 3 current channels. Have it checked out by a competent service center before use.
The "pass the transmitter" method has many flaws. I have experienced students "freezing" to the transmitter in an effort to protect thier property. In other cases they almost throw the transmitter my way to get pulled out of the situation. It is hard to see the plane at very high altitudes and learning to land requires the plane to be lower than that. I have looked into the alternate method mentioned in this thread and have yet to be convinced. While it does seem to work getting all instructors on the page would prove dificult. For the time being I'll stick to the buddy cord method.
Only once in the past 5 years have I encountered a pilot with no buddy box connection and it also was on an AM radio. The transmitter was "gold stickered" so was updated to narrow band. Control was sloppy at best and interference dictated the plane be landed. Noisy RF areas such as the DC suburbs make it even worse. Basic 4 channel radio sets are very inexpensive these days so upgrading shouldn't be a burden for most pilots.
EXCAP232
ORIGINAL: Rick Lindsey
15 years ago when i was first looking into the hobby, buddy cords either didn't exist or were not the norm at the flying field I had access to. The instructor would take the tx, fly the plane "3 mistakes high" and hand the student the tx, taking it back if the plane was low and in trouble, or when it was time to land. I'll be using my old old futaba AM radio in my Kadet LT-25, and unfortunately I don't think it's compatible with modern FM transmitter buddy cords. How much of a disadvantage am I going to be at in this world of buddy cords if I need to use the older "quick, hand me the transmitter" method?