What is the point of the Zone callsign, as in "Shawbury Zone"? And how is this different from a "radar" callsign?
There are lots of zones in aviation... ATZ, CTR and MATZ for a start.
There is no explanation, or even mention of it in CAP413. The frequency reference cards that accompany the half-mil charts show the contact frequencies of almost all "zone" units in the RAD/APP column.
On one or two occasions, a slip of the tongue has produced "Shawbury Radar..." and has always been corrected by the controller - once rather forcefully; perhaps I offended the chap. To my mind, this implies that there is a difference. To the uninitiated, it seems that one is just supposed to know.
I use "zone" when dealing with an ATSU controlling a MATZ, only because I was taught do it at the PPL stage. If that is the only distinction, it seems a shade pointless.
Maybe it is in the Military AIP, but as they don't allow public access, I cannot check.
A
previous PPRUNE post suggests:
"XXX Zone" - VHF transit traffic
I am sure that this must be written down somewhere official, but I haven't been able to locate it. Anyone know?