Pole Hill
Never be embarrassed about having to ask for a "say again". Remember that on the ground we have millions of pounds worth of equipment and people, and out there somewhere are all our customers; our only link is the spoken word via a fairly crappy £10 headset which is expected to last for life without replacement or maintenance of any kind. There are also notorious areas of R/T interference [ e.g. EXMOR area on 126.07 for the last 20 years] as well as the odd blind-spot. Anyway.....please say if you can't hear us.....there may be an alternate frequency available......at the very least the controller will be aware of the problem . There are many ways round this, even a message relay via another a/c if a slow, careful and clear transmission technique doesn't work.