Thank you Pete, by the end of it, my jaw was hanging open. What must be important for outsiders (including managers and wannabees) is not that this happens every day but that you have to be ready for it on any day.
Sorry to trouble you with a question: Following the lack of tx on 121.5, you wrote, "We do so and I log the time, sector frequencies and circumstances to fill in an ASR due to PLOC." I gather there was an equipment failure? Please expand a little (when you are not boxing the ears of sundry airport personnel!)