Flite Tip: Spektrum Wireless Buddy Box Setup

The wireless buddy box feature on modern Spektrum radios is super easy to use. Here's how to get yours set up.

All you're going to need are two compatible DSM2/DSMX Spektrum transmitters. With the wireless feature, they will talk to each other without the need for anything extra.

Compatible Radios

You will need to use a Spektrum radio with wireless trainer functionality. Most of the modern radios such as the awesome DX9, eight channel DX8, and even the DXe beginner radio has this built in. If you're unsure if your radio is, check the manual or the specs on the Spektrum transmitter product pages on the Flite Test Store.

1. Connecting the Master Transmitter to the Aircraft.

To bind your airplane to the master transmitter:

Remove your propeller.
Plug a binding pin into your airplane receiver.
Power up plane with battery.
Power up your radio whilst holding down the bind button as normal.

2. Connecting The Two Transmitters Together

Unpower your airplane and set it aside.
Go to the System Setup menu.

Scroll down to the Trainer Menu.

Click on 'Wireless Trainer'.
Roll over to the button that says bind and click it. You should see that it is now in bind mode. It is now waiting to bind with the slave transmitter.

Pick up Slave radio and power on whilst holding the bind button. Now the Slave and Master radio should connect together. This should be validated with an audible confirmation.

Configuring Settings

There are several features you can customize in the master transmitter Trainer Menu. One is the switch used to flip control between each transmitter. Another is the 'master override' setting. Here's how to configure it.

Power up the plane again.
Wiggle the master transmitter's controls to check that it is controlling the aircraft.
Flip the designated trainer switch to assign control to the slave transmitter, then check it is controlling the aircraft.
If you want to enable the 'master override', enable it by setting the feature to 'active'.

When the student has control, now all you will have to do is move the master transmitter controls to revert control back from the slave. It's a quick solution that imitates you grabbing the control back, but less forcefully!