"Bob Chilcoat" wrote in message
...

I guess I learned that you need to ask immediately if you think a call
might
be for you, even though the call is a bit garbled. Is the aircraft type
an
official part of the call? Any other actions I should have taken?

Where I fly controllers sometimes use the abbreviation "November 123"
instead of the type, perhaps when they don't know the type. Sounds like that
might have been what you were getting. My understanding is that this is
considered acceptable though I always respond with my type even if they say
November.

I listen real close anytime I hear something that sounds like my callsign.
I'm 4955D and hear 5DD, 45D, 95D, etc all the time, often the second or
third time I correct them. Use the radio more often and you get a sense of
when they're calling you. If in doubt, wait a sec and ask, "Hey approach,
you calling Archer 511?"

Learn from the duck and let the water roll off your back. Maybe the
controller's wife read him the riot act on his way out the door that day and
he was just waiting for someone to tee off on. God knows they screw up
plenty often. If I ripped into them every time they flew me through the
localizer, etc. I'd get hoarse real fast. Getting nipped by ATC happens from
time to time; so long as their transmission doesn't end with a phone number,
I don't let it get to me. Some controllers are awesome, some are assholes,
and all are human.

-cwk.