Nice going, Whirly! Couldn't cope with them rotor things myself. One day the earth might stop repelling them..
Apruneuk: I've found that RT fluency and confidence go alongside flying currency only up to a point. That's the problem. You'd think that more hours = greater RT confidence. But it wasn't working like that, hence my rather desperate first post.
But.. a few recent experiences have taught me that, when I really NEED to make/get something clear, I can. And will. As in, "XXXXX radar, you gave me a 'QDM' of 050... That seems to be taking me in totally the wrong direction, unless I'm even loster than I thought. Request confirm: If I fly *in* that direction, I will be going *to* .. EGBF??" "G-BBBF, correction, you're quite right. We were giving you a QTE. Your QDM is..."
But that little moment of unease is as nothing to the further help I've had from other nice ATCOs. And to all of those (and you know who you are!): Many Thanks. The rest of you: I wish you could remember that we all have to start somewhere. And the learning curve doesn't have a handy QDM...