Originally Posted by
tobster911
If I went into controlled airspace, such as Southend Airport, I would just make a call *(before entering), but wouldn't request a service, so to speak. i.e "Southend Approach, G-ABCD". Then await a response, nothing about a service. Previously, I'd been told to do "Southend Approach, G-ABCD, request Basic Service".
Just "Southend Approach, G-ABCD" and then waiting for them to call you back, is not incorrect. In fact, it's a lot better than telling your complete life story at your initial call - something you hear all too often.
But depending on what you want you may want to give them a tiny heads-up. So you may want to say something like:
"Southend Approach, G-ABCD request zone transit"
"Southend Approach, G-ABCD for landing"
"Southend Approach, G-ABCD request Basic Service" (*)
This doesn't add a lot of airtime to your message, but it does allow the controller to prioritise things on a busy frequency. Or, if it's really busy, to deny your request outright.
(*) The latter case would only be applicable if Southend Approach is able to provide a LARS (ATSOCAS) service outside their TMA, and if that's the service you wish to obtain. But if you intend to fly into the Southend TMA (or whatever they're managing), your initial call would be about that.