Aim Far
FIS is the lowest level of service an ATC unit can give you - if you don't want it - then don't call, as 2D's so well explains. Monitoring the frequency is good however and, if you do feel you're the guy that he's getting vexed about - then come up on the frequency and ask for a FIS - it's no great shakes to the Controller concerned and gives him an idea as to what you're doing.
However - if you don't call I would ask you to squawk 7000
with mode 'C'. Even if you're not talking that can still be a great help as it reduces the separation required with you from a blanket 5 miles to 5 miles
or 3000ft - a great help when you may be 20 miles away from the airfield but still right in the way of an inbound being radar vectored from medium or high level. (One of my units main arrival routes leaves airways 40 miles away from the field and so has to be vectored through class G 'bandit country'
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Timothy
For example, you depart Teesside, you have to talk to Teesside Approach (obviously, you are in their Class D), then as you leave the zone they say "Radar Information Service" and you don't want to sound rude or ungrateful, so you reply "Radar Information Service",
That's a bit naughty in the first place - what you should be asked is "G-**** leaving controlled airspace - what type of service do you require?". It's a verbal contract between pilot and controller, and as such the type of service should not be imposed. It's not sounding ungrateful if you downgrade to FIS, and indeed on a busy day the controller will be grateful (Though if he'd done it properly in the first place.....................................!
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