I find myself in a quandary on this one, for preference I would prefer to do my own thing but is this reckless of my own safety and, perhaps more importantly, of others? Probably not, but why not take simple precautions to minimise the risk for everyone?
A while ago I had a very close airprox (Official and category A) and I can tell you it was very, very frightening being < 1 second away from disaster (we both estimated the same distance). Me keeping a better look out would probably not have helped as the other a/c was climbing and hidden from view (but I don’t fly wings level for very long now!). Having “I had right of way” or similar on the tomb stone would also not have been much consolation for anyone, except perhaps the insurance company.
Now, the precautions we are talking about would not (did not) help in this case as I was not close to a honey pot (and neither of us were going to/from the nearest one), was in class G airspace, in contact with an A/G station and I did have the transponder on (with height)- but even though I was at 2,000 agl in the south of England it subsequently could not be tracked properly from the tapes so would have been no use to a radar unit.
So
happens, we all have to recognise that, but IMHO we should take reasonable precautions. For me that means putting the transponder on outside of the circuit (although in my current steed it does not provide height info), keeping at least a listening watch on appropriate frequencies and taking a FIS or RIS when there is a lot of Military activity or when flying through choke points such as Cottesmore / East Midlands and Odiham / Southampton.
I guess what I am saying is that none of us are invulnerable, keeping a good look out is essential but not a complete answer, so lets go and have fun taking resonable precautions but without tying our-selves in knots and overwhelming the ATC units.