Good Afternoon all.
Well. I wrote the route brief that is quoted above but, as I've retired now I'm a bit surprised the 'new' owner with responsibility for the updates hasn't done so.
Here we go....The LLR is currently class D but it's a very unusual, in fact unique, piece of class D airspace. If you read the brief you'll see that there are a number of very specific rules relating to the LLR regarding in-flight visibility and the fact that it is not neccessary to obtain a clearance, or listen out on the appropriate frequency. (I won't list them all because they're on the brief). The original intention of the LLR when it was established was to allow access to the Manchester CTR for aircraft operating without a radio both during night and day. I'm not sure exactly when it was established but it was definately before 1970 as I was working at Liverpool at this time and it was well established then. At this time the Manchester CTR was 'rule 21' airspace which is pretty much the equivalent of the current class A. Procedures for Liverpool and Manchester airports were written to seperate from the LLR. Unfortunately the changes made in latter years have resulted in something of an anomoly regarding the rules. The procedures and provision of a basic service within what is currently class D airspace result from a decision made by the CAA right back at the original introduction of the route, (although of course it was then a FIS), which of course makes the LLR unique. It has to be said though that when consideration was made to make the proposed changes to the airspace no one could find any documentary evidence of this but then it was eons ago!
Getting back to the original thread query......Your options are.
1. Transit non-radio
2. Transit monitoring 118.575 with 7366 selected.
3. Call for a basic service on 118.575
Whichever of these options you select you will never know all the traffic within the low-level route as all these options are available to all the other users. Many aircraft appear to choose option 1, probably because they have limited RTF battery life and/or no transponder anyway.
These anomalies were intended to be addressed by the airspace changes to the CTR which would make the LLR revert back to class G airspace amongst cropping various parts of the Class D zone. I'm afraid I have no knowledge as to the current state of the revisions but it was hoped they would be completed late this year.
I'll just add that the current release of class D airspace going through the revision process was entirely the work of flying ATCOs at Manchester Airport who have worked hard in their own time to get it to the stage it is now. If anyone thinks I'm blowing my own trumpet I'll just say that I was only involved in a very minor way but to those of you who know John Rhodes around the NW flying scene, if it goes through then buy him a drink!