HDG TRACK DEV OCCURS WHEN THE MD80 FO; PF; FAILS TO ADHERE TO A TURN FOR FINAL INTERCEPT RWY 7R; 6 NM W OF PHX; AZ.

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IT WAS THE FO'S LEG. PHX WAS PARTLY CLOUDY AND VISIBILITY WAS GOOD VFR. WE WERE GIVEN A HDG FOR A R BASE TO RWY 7R AND TOLD TO CALL THE ARPT IN SIGHT. PHX APCH FREQ WAS VERY BUSY. WE CALLED THE ARPT IN SIGHT AND TFC WAS CALLED OUT TO US. WE WERE THEN GIVEN DSCNT TO 4000 FT. I THINK WE WERE GIVEN A HDG TO INTERCEPT THE RWY 7R LOC; THEN ADVISED OF TFC ON OUR L. I WAS BUSY LOOKING FOR THE TFC AND THE FO MUST HAVE MISSED THE CALL; AS HE DID NOT TURN. WE WERE ON A 90 DEG INTERCEPT TO FINAL. WE COULD SEE THE INTERCEPT WAS NOT GOING TO WORK. AS SOON AS WE COULD GET A WORD IN; WE QUERIED APCH ABOUT BEING CLRED FOR THE VISUAL APCH. WE WERE THEN CLRED FOR THE VISUAL FOR RWY 7R. THEN WE WERE CLRED FOR THE VISUAL TO RWY 7L AND OVER TO TWR AND CLRED TO LAND. THE TFC AT PHX WAS HVY; AND COMS WERE VERY BUSY. THESE DIRECT DISTRS MADE THIS APCH CONFUSING. LESSONS LEARNED: TO BE SURE THE PF HAS COMPLIED WITH THE COMMUNICATING PLT'S READBACK. BEWARE OF AREAS OF INCREASED AND RAPID RADIO CONGESTION FOR SAFE COMPLIANCE AND AWARENESS. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 599346: WE WERE GIVEN A BASE LEG HDG OF 350 DEGS AND HAD LEVELED OFF AT 3000 FT OR 4000 FT; SLOWING WITH FLAPS AT 15 DEGS. A LOT OF RADIO XMISSIONS TAKING PLACE ON APCH CTL FREQ AND WE COULD SEE TFC AT 11 O'CLOCK POS WITHIN 10 MI. MY CAPT AND I MAY HAVE MISSED A RADIO CALL FOR AN INTERCEPT HDG AND /OR ALT TO DSND FROM APCH CTL. WE WERE TOLD TO SWITCH TWR WHILE STILL ON THE BASE LEG. WE WERE GIVEN CLRNC FOR VISUAL APCH TO RWY 7R; FOLLOWED BY AMENDED CLRNC FOR VISUAL APCH TO RWY 7L. AS WE WERE TURNING TO FINAL; WE RECEIVED A 'TFC' CALL FROM TCASII AS WE HAD VISUAL ON TFC PASSING L TO R AND BELOW US. TWR RPTED NOTHING UNUSUAL AS WE LANDED WITHOUT INCIDENT.