Frank,
the original hairdryer vs colt remark was tongue in cheek, obviously picked the wrong smiley. on the smiley note why is there an al-qaeda smiley (
)?
I did use the callsign MB CTR
Then ATC should have responded to you, unless something else was going on behind the scenes which none of us will ever know.
But you could if an IFR was involved. Isn't that what the thread is all about?
In
theory an IFR could be turned or climbed/descended but it is not usual practice nor necessarily recommended, still have to be mindful of such things as LSALT/MSA, other conflictions, etc etc. In G it is see & avoid airspace, even with radar coverage & one aircraft IFR.
I cant speak for the controller in question, can only give some possibles on what he/she/it might have been doing:
There are several useful tools we have on the console and it may have been assessed that you would both miss and so didnt update until after you had passed (but ATC may have passed the TI as it looked like it may be close - i..e you'd see each other and then grumble that no TI was passed).
ATC may not have heard your transmissions due to poor coverage, aircraft on another frequency, telephone call (only single earpiece headsets so both phone & R/t come through same hole).
I'd rather have more VFR calling for a RIS (especially whilst flying through E) than relying on 'see & avoid' with RPT traffic. (a lot of controllers will probably grumble at me for saying that, but then a RIS can always be denied).