When I was learning back in the 70s one of my early solo cross-country flights was to fly from Birmingham EGBB in a C150 (those were the days) to overfly Halfpenny Green (Wolverhampton International!) and observe & record (on paper) the signals square then report back to the CFI who had in the meantime checked with HG. Signals squares are still in use at some smaller UK GA airfields, useful for non-radio ops.