Originally Posted by
Hotel Tango
And I would suggest that you obviously have no clue how ATC works and WHY they request you to set 7700. Oh boy!
Precisely, gearlever seriously needs to get over himself, perhaps it's time to hang up the hat when your ego no longer fits inside the seams. 7700 is a CONSPICUITY CODE, meaning you're conspicuous. By selecting it, you should appear on all Radar screens, regardless of level filters. This means that every controller viewing that geographical sector, no matter which levels they're responsible for, can see you.
Is setting 7700 legally 'declaring an emergency', or just setting an emergency transponder code? In Europe, as far as I understand, an emergency isn't declared without making a mayday or a pan.