SOME LEVEL OF CONFUSION REGARDING ACFT'S STATUS WITHIN SCT APCH CTL WHEN A C150 CFI ENTERS THE CLASS C AIRSPACE WITHOUT CLRNC 10 MI N OF SNA.

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IN A NUTSHELL; I THOUGHT I WAS IN CONTACT WITH SOCAL APCH WHEN; IN FACT; UNBEKNOWNST TO ME; THEY HAD TERMINATED MY FLT FOLLOWING. I THOUGHT I WAS COMPLYING WITH THE CLASS C COM REQUIREMENT; BUT SINCE MY FLT FOLLOWING WAS TERMINATED; I WASN'T. AS I APCHED SNA (THINKING THAT I WAS STILL ON FLT FOLLOWING); I EXPECTED TO HEAR SOMETHING LIKE 'SNA 10 MI AHEAD BEARING 180 DEGS; FLT FOLLOWING CANCELED.' WHEN I DIDN'T HEAR ANYTHING FROM ATC; I THOUGHT THEY MIGHT HAVE FORGOTTEN ABOUT ME AND RADIOED TO ATC; 'ARPT IN SIGHT.' THE ATC CTLR INFORMED ME THAT HE 'KNEW NOTHING ABOUT ME' AND ASKED 'WHERE ARE YOU?' WHEN I TOLD HIM THAT I WAS ABOUT 5 MI FROM SNA; HE IMMEDIATELY VECTORED ME TO A COMMONLY USED INITIAL APCH POINT FOR SNA. I WAS THEN PASSED ON TO THE SNA TWR AND LANDED. I HAD BEEN ON SOCAL ATC 125.5 UNTIL I WAS ABOUT 20 MI FROM SNA. I CALLED 125.5 TO LET THE CTLR KNOW THAT I INTENDED TO DSND FROM 3500 FT. THE CTLR INFORMED ME THAT HE HAD TRIED TO REACH ME EARLIER TO TERMINATE MY FLT FOLLOWING AND THAT I SHOULD CONTACT SOCAL ATC ON 121.3. I DID SO; STILL 15-25 MI OUT FROM SNA AND HEARD BACK FROM 123.3 'SNA ALTIMETER 29.88.' IN HINDSIGHT; I NOW DO NOT BELIEVE THAT THE CTLR WAS ACKNOWLEDGING MY 'SOCAL APCH; I'M WITH YOU AT XXX FT' MESSAGE; BUT THE TIMING WAS SUCH THAT IT CERTAINLY SEEMED LIKE A NORMAL COM EXCHANGE AT THE TIME. SO THERE I WAS; THE PREVIOUS CTLR GAVE ME THE NEW ATC FREQ; AND TOLD ME THAT HE HAD 'TRIED TO TERMINATE MY FLT FOLLOWING;' BUT NEVER ACTUALLY 'TOLD ME' THAT MY FLT FOLLOWING WAS TERMINATED OR TO SQUAWK 1200; HE SIMPLY TOLD ME TO CONTACT THE NEXT CTLR. I CONTINUED SQUAWKING MY ASSIGNED XPONDER CODE AND CALLED THE NEXT CTLR AS I SAID ABOVE. MUCH ATTN HAS BEEN GIVEN TO THE REQUIREMENT TO HEAR THE POSITIVE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 'YOU HAVE BEEN CLRED TO CLASS B AIRSPACE.' I DON'T RECALL ANY SUCH EMPHASIS ON CLASS C AIRSPACE. MAYBE THAT WOULD HAVE HELPED. ALSO; WHEN IN CONTACT WITH ATC AND APCHING ANY 'SPECIAL AIRSPACE;' THE DISTINCTION OF TO WHOM ONE SHOULD BE TALKING AT ANY GIVEN POINT HAS ALWAYS BEEN A BIT VAGUE. I HAVE LEARNED FROM THIS EXPERIENCE THAT; AT LEAST IN THE CASE OF CLASS C; ENTERING CLASS C WHILE TALKING TO ATC CTLR ISN'T OK. FINAL NOTE: WHEN I CONTACTED THE SNA TWR; I WAS IMMEDIATELY BERATED AND INFORMED OF ALL OF THE PROBS I HAD CAUSED. INITIALLY BY THE ACTIVE TWR CTLR; THEN AGAIN AFTER PROMPTING FROM ANOTHER CTLR THAT ALSO BROADCASTED OVER THE TWR FREQ WITH 'YEAH! AND TELL HIM A POLICE HELI WAS DISPATCHED TOO!. SO I HEARD THAT ONE TWICE. I SHOULD STUDY MY CHARTS. I WAS NEAR (BUT NOT IN) A TFR AREA. A POLICE INTERCEPT HELI HAD TO BE DISPATCHED. I WAS INSIDE SNA AIRSPACE. AN ACFT ON APCH HAD TO BE DIVERTED. I'M SURE ALL OF THE ABOVE IS TRUE AND FOR THAT I APOLOGIZE. BUT; IN THE INTEREST OF SAFETY; IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER TO DO ALL OF THAT BERATING AFTER I HAD LANDED AND NOT DURING MY FINAL APCH TO LNDG; WHICH IS KNOWN TO ALREADY BE THE MOST STRESSFUL PHASE OF FLT. IT WOULD ALSO SEEM LIKE A POOR USE OF ALREADY LIMITED TWR COM TIME.