Well put DFC. I agree entirely, as does every other pilot I know of with whom it's been discussed at work recently.
Ppactice Pans on 121.5 simply result in most turning the volume down completely or simply deselecting the monitoring of 121.5
Quite simply, a practice pan DOES interfere with good monitoring of a busy ATC frequency. Commercial aircraft are now required by the CAA to monitor 121.5 when at all possible, and so to that end using it for PPL practices is no longer sadly justified.
As an ex PPL instructor I fully understand the usefulness of a practice pan, but times have changed :-(
I fully support the case for another frequency to be allocated for practice use, one that the rest of us don't get distracted by.........
30W