NorthSouth, you said:
Flying at the weekend, on VFR flights o/CAS with a discrete squawk, received very nice radar-based traffic info (of the "traffic in your vicinity" variety) despite being on a FIS. I don't believe that'll change after 12 March.
Oh yes, it will change after 12 March. Have you read the last few pages of this thread? We are not allowed to give you the kind of information you are now getting from some units on a FIS when it changes to BS. The whole point is to standardise is across all units, so you will find that really helpful units at the moment will be providing a lot less information to you when on a BS!
We've had our simulator training already on the new ATSOCAS and it was actually quite difficult at times not saying something when really at the moment we would, ie. Traffic north of you, 5 miles, southbound, 500 feet below. Not gonna happen anymore 'unless a real risk of collsion exists'. You may get generic information such as 'parachute site active' but that's pretty much it.
Personally I think it's become a worse service for the pilots and with some of the new phraseology it hasn't made it easier for the ATCOs either, but I guess we'll have to see how it goes...
p.