After landing on runway 30 at sac lsa pilot is told to exit on taxiway H and contact ground. Stoppin...

Narrative:

After landing on runway 30 I was asked to taxi off on hotel and contact ground (frequency not given by tower.) I taxied off onto hotel and slowed and stopped to confirm the ground frequency before I had gone too far without ground contact. Before I could contact ground; tower urgently told me to taxi forward and get off the runway! I did not know I was on the runway. Turns out taxiway hotel is between the approach end of runway 16 and runway 30. It is not marked well; and there are no runway markings (e.g.; centerline) there. Also; it is weedy and unkempt; certainly not like a runway. I had never landed on runway 30 there and was unfamiliar with that segment of the taxiway hotel being online with runway 16/34. This seems a potentially confusing and hazardous area that is not marked as a place to not be! Also tower accused me of stopping on the runway; but the airport diagram shows this area of taxiway hotel not as runway; but just north of (and in line with) the approach end of 16. I would suggest improved taxiway and runway markings and signage for this area of sac. I acknowledge now that I did not cross runway holding position markings before pausing; but I must reiterate that it was not clear to me that I was not safely on a taxiway and needed to contact ground before proceeding further.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: After landing on Runway 30 at SAC LSA pilot is told to exit on Taxiway H and contact ground. Stopping clear of Runway 30 to confirm the Ground Control frequency; the reporter is admonished for not clearing the the runway (not across the hold line).

Narrative: After landing on Runway 30 I was asked to taxi off on Hotel and contact ground (frequency not given by Tower.) I taxied off onto Hotel and slowed and stopped to confirm the ground frequency before I had gone too far without ground contact. Before I could contact ground; Tower urgently told me to taxi forward and get off the runway! I did not know I was on the runway. Turns out Taxiway Hotel is between the approach end of Runway 16 and Runway 30. It is not marked well; and there are no runway markings (e.g.; centerline) there. Also; it is weedy and unkempt; certainly not like a runway. I had never landed on Runway 30 there and was unfamiliar with that segment of the Taxiway Hotel being online with Runway 16/34. This seems a potentially confusing and hazardous area that is not marked as a place to not be! Also Tower accused me of stopping on the runway; but the airport diagram shows this area of Taxiway Hotel not as runway; but just north of (and in line with) the approach end of 16. I would suggest improved taxiway and runway markings and signage for this area of SAC. I acknowledge now that I did not cross runway holding position markings before pausing; but I must reiterate that it was not clear to me that I was not safely on a taxiway and needed to contact ground before proceeding further.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1011599
Time
Date	201205
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	SAC.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Light Sport Aircraft
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Sport / Recreational
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 20 Flight Crew Total 800 Flight Crew Type 600
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

After landing on runway 30 at sac lsa pilot is told to exit on taxiway H and contact ground. Stopping clear of runway 30 to confirm the ground control frequency; the reporter is admonished for not clearing the the runway (not across the hold line).