Our club has a couple buddy boxes to use for training. I would like to get at least one buddy box that could be used for students with computer radios and two servos for ailerons. Any ideas where to get such a buddy box for a reasonable price? Futaba compatability is required. JR compatability a nice option.

Any help out there with product knowledge?

Umm...basically any buddy box with work with any radio, computer or not, as long as you have the correct trainer cord and program it into the computer radio...

No, he wants the buddy box to have dual rates, etc. You can flip the instructor box on low rates, but the buddy box will only produce the full width signals (high rates) and that's what the instructor box will transmit. That's an issue, when the training plane is set up with too much travel. The real fix is to set the trainer up with lower rates, mechanically.

If you're doing something like letting people fly your pattern plane, using the training cord, then you need a student box with all the switches - probably another radio with dual rates, mixing, etc. I haven't encountered a student box with even dual rates. Good luck with that, though.

Dave Olson

It wasn't a cheap solution, but I accomplished this by buying two transmitters.
Both are Futaba 6XAS and my ATV, exponential, etc as student are different than the master radio.

Get a cheap 6 channel radio like futaba or the tower hobbies transmitter. (It is the exact same unit with a different sticker)
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=LXNN65**&P=0
I have owned two (me and my grandpa) with good results. I don't like the ratchet on the throttle though. It is kinda rough. I took off the metal ratchet clip all together, and I really like it much better. The throttle is very very easy to adjust, but is still tight enough to keep position when radio is held upright.
You cant really get a radio that is much cheaper $99.99
On compatibility though, I'm not sure. When I was learning, we tried to link a futaba 4 channel radio to a 8au and it didn't work. I have seen others have problems with mixing old radios to computer units, but I know it CAN be done. All attempts were spur the minute, at the field, 10 minute ordeals and no manuals were consulted. Does anyone actually read manuals??? Not at my field!
Just look some stuff up BEFORE you get to the field and are in a hurry, have bad lighting, are huddled over an old chevy tailgate exc... Do your homework and I'm sure it will work.

My JR 6102 has a feature that allows it to control all of the little things like dual rates, servo reversing, and so on. All I have to do is make sure my buddy box is set to factor default (trims at neutral, and all servos in normal mode), and the master controls all of the rest. It's called pilot link. It's really nice. I let my wife fly my planes on the buddy box at times. If she wants to fly the big stick--no problem, just plug in the trainer box. The master does the rest. I set up dual rates to slow the plane down for her--I flip the master to low rates, and that's what is transmitted--even though we're using the gimbal inputs from the buddy box. Then, if she wants to fly my contender, just change planes on the master--no setup required on the buddy box at all. The master does it all--even though the normal/reverse switch on the servos between the two planes is completely different--it's a super nice feature found on most JR's--especially the upper end ones.

I guess what I'm saying is that you don't need a full featured buddy box, you need a full featured master!

Thanks for the info. Looks like JR has a better solution than Futaba right now.