En-route Basic Service

intermediateUK phraseology
✈ Cessna 172📡 Farnborough Radar⏱ ~5 minutes💬 3 exchanges

Airborne and clear of the circuit, establish a Basic Service with a radar unit under UK Flight Information Services (CAP 774). Make the initial call, pass your message (type, position, level, routing, intentions), and read back the squawk — while understanding that a Basic Service carries no traffic-information guarantee.

Briefing

You are VFR from Popham to Goodwood in Cessna 172 G-BCDE, five miles south of Basingstoke at altitude four thousand feet on QNH 1012. You want a Basic Service from Farnborough Radar on 125.250. This is a Basic Service — the controller is NOT required to monitor you or warn you of traffic.

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What this scenario covers

  1. Exchange 1

    Make your initial call to Farnborough Radar and request a Basic Service. Keep the first call short — full callsign and the request only.

    💡 The first call is just who you are calling, who you are, and the service you want. The controller will then ask you to "pass your message" before you give the detail.

  2. Exchange 2

    ATC: “Golf Bravo Charlie Delta Echo, Farnborough Radar, pass your message.”

    Pass your full message: aircraft type, route, present position, level, and flight conditions/intentions.

    💡 Pass your message in the standard order so the controller can copy it in one go: callsign, type, departure and destination, position, level, then conditions. Lead with your callsign.

  3. Exchange 3

    ATC: “Golf Delta Echo, Farnborough Radar, Basic Service, squawk four five seven one. Basic Service, no traffic information.”

    Read back the squawk and acknowledge the Basic Service.

    💡 A squawk is always a mandatory readback. Under a Basic Service the controller is NOT required to monitor you or pass traffic information — you remain responsible for your own lookout and collision avoidance.

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