The sooner the the CAA gets its act together in addressing the AGCS issue, the better, preferably either getting rid of A/G stations and making them either Safetycom or obliging them to upgrade to FIS.
Or by leaving them alone and allowing pilots to continue to make use of them, as they have done quite safely in the past?
5 pages later, and it must now be obvious that yes you can talk to another aircraft, you just need to press the PTT button and open your mouth.
If the question is should you talk to another aircraft? Can't we all get used to exercising common sense? I don't see why there needs to be absolute regulation of everything. If it works, use it.
If the op had a bit more experience he would've known he could just as easily have found out where the traffic was from the a/g operator as he could asking directly. The fact is he didn't have an accident and the a/g operator shouldn't have felt the need to have a go at him.