Reading this, I'm thinking that all the convoluted application of 'the rules' is removing something pretty important, namely common sense, though to be fair it is increasingly absent from life in general these days.
If you're tooling around, knowing another aircraft is in the vicinity, but you can't see it, why doesn't matter - if you stuffed up, so what? Break the chain. Talk. Ask. One of the major reasons for having a radio is alerted see and avoid - it'll hopefully get both of you looking in the right direction. Ask for forgiveness later (if necessary), hard to do that if you're tumbling earthward..
For what it's worth where I learned to fly (aus), it was entirely common to coordinate directly with other a/c in the circuit.
Though I think it is no big deal what OP did, I can kind of understand the response from A/G too.
I think OP shouldn't be too bolstered up on 'hey you did nothing wrong'. It might not have been 'wrong' but on the other hand it isn't usual practice at an A/G field to talk directly to other aircraft for positioning, this is why each aircraft makes position reports. I think to be honest we have a situation with a student pilot probably A) did the right thing in the circumstance, B) should take away from the experience that some further training is required regarding 'normal' radio procedures at an A/G field. It's always worth simply talking to those involved when things like this happen and learn their opinion direct. Quite a bit of rubbish spoken on this thread regards the 'powers' of an A/G operator. I don't see that the A/G operator issued an instruction or gave a clearance, simply that they were trying to guide regarding the normal R/T procedure.
That isn't to say I've never been contacted by another aircraft at an A/G field, but one wouldn't
usually do it IMOH and lets remember we are only hearing one side of the story.
