AN ACR FO READ BACK HIS CLRNC TO PHL TRACON VERBATIM; YET FOUND THERE WAS AN ALLEGED TRACK DEV WHEN HANDED OFF TO THE NEXT CTLR.

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ON DEP OUT OF PHL; OFF RWY 27L; PHL DEP TOLD US TO PROCEED DIRECT TO PENSY AFTER PASSING FL410. I ACKNOWLEDGED THE CLRNC; REPEATING IT WORD FOR WORD. HE HANDED US OFF TO ZNY; WHO TOLD US TO MAINTAIN 10000 FT; AND THAT WE WOULD BE CLRED HIGHER AFTER MXE. WE ASSUMED HE MEANT AFTER WE HAD PASSED ABEAM MXE. SHORTLY AFTERWARD; ZNY ASKED US IF WE WERE PROCEEDING TO MXE. I TOLD ZNY THE PREVIOUS CTLR HAD CLRED US TO PENSY. SHORTLY AFTER; A DECONFLICTING VECTOR FROM ZNY; THE CTLR TOLD US THE LAST CTLR SAID HE CLRED US TO MODENA AFTER PASSING 4000 FT. I SUSPECT EITHER 1) THE CTLR CLRED US TO PENSY; BUT THOUGHT HE CLRED US TO MXE; OR 2) BOTH THE CAPT AND MYSELF HEARD PENSY; WHEN IN FACT WE WERE CLRED MXE. THE RADIO WAS CLUTTERED (STANDARD PHL TFC). HOWEVER; I READ BACK THE EXACT CLRNC WE THOUGHT WE HEARD; AND THE CTLR DID NOT CORRECT ANY MISTAKEN IMPRESSIONS; BUT RATHER HANDED US OFF TO ZNY; LEAVING US THE IMPRESSION WE HAD HEARD THE CLRNC CORRECTLY. I LEFT THE ZNY CTR FREQ WITH THE IMPRESSION THE CTLR WASN'T GOING TO MAKE A HUGE DEAL OUT OF THE MATTER; BUT NONETHELESS; I'M FILING THIS RPT.