BE24 PLT TRANSITING CLASS B AIRSPACE HAS CLRNC PROB AND DOES NOT PICK UP A VECTOR ISSUED BY APCH.

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I WAS CLRED THROUGH SFO CLASS B AIRSPACE; OWN NAV. I THOUGHT I MIGHT HAVE HEARD A COURSE CHANGE ORDERED; BUT RADIO WAS SCRATCHY. I CALLED BAY APCH TO CLARIFY IF I WAS GIVEN A COURSE CHANGE. FREQ WAS VERY BUSY; AND THE ONLY RESPONSE I HEARD FOR ME WAS A CALLOUT OF TFC. I SAW THE TFC; THERE WAS NO CONFLICT THAT I COULD SEE. WHEN I TOLD APCH CTL THAT I SAW THE TFC AND THAT IT WAS PASSING ME WITH NO PROB; I WAS NOTIFIED THAT I HAD BEEN GIVEN A COURSE CHANGE BECAUSE OF THAT TFC. THE OTHER TFC MAY HAVE BEEN HELD AT A LOWER ALT TO PASS ME; THOUGH I DON'T KNOW THIS. WHEN THE CTLR RESPONDED TO MY ORIGINAL QUERY (ABOUT A MISSED COURSE CHANGE) WITH A TFC CALLOUT; I ASSUMED THAT EITHER THERE WAS NO COURSE DEV ORDERED OR THAT I WAS AUTH TO STAY CLR OF THE TFC; SINCE I WAS VFR AND BOTH PLANES WERE IN VMC. I THINK THAT MAYBE THE CTLR DIDN'T HEAR MY QUERY ABOUT A POSSIBLE INSTRUCTION FROM HIM ABOUT COURSE CHANGE; AS THE FREQ WAS VERY BUSY. I SHOULD HAVE INSISTED ON A CLR ANSWER TO MY QUERY ABOUT A POSSIBLE ATC INSTRUCTION; EVEN WITH CROWDED FREQ AND OTHER INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN TO ME BY CTLR.