Narrative:

Began takeoff roll on taxiway alpha - went 30 feet and realized I was still on taxiway; I stopped at the same time the tower was telling me to do the same; I then turned around left at taxiway G back to H then departed [runway] xxr.contributing factors: 1. I am a low-time tower controlled departure pilot; 2. The covid scenario changed departure frequency from published xxy.Z to xab.C. 3. When I first contacted clearance delivery they asked if I was requesting flight following and I affirmed this and the readback from clearance delivery terminated in an abbreviated sentence of 'nxxxxx request.' I waited a time and asked what that meant and the controlled told me he was working on my request and gave the squawk code and the departure frequency and to contact ground. 4. Ground told me to proceed to xxr via hotel but didn't tell me to use alpha or the apron. I proceeded to hotel via the apron; did my runup. I contacted tower and they cleared me for xxr. I crossed single-yellow solid/stripped and then proceeded to accelerate down alpha. I realized at the same time tower notified me to stop that I was on taxiway (despite all the signs and my previous awareness that hot spot 1 exists and I reviewed that prior to flight) - went about 30 feet.there are many assumptions that are made in communicating with clearance delivery; ground; tower - some of which are not obvious - the one word 'request' didn't tell me to wait while waiting for the request while he worked on it. Also; when to change frequencies and when to stay.I spoke to ZZZ controller and he explained to me why xab.C was given to me rather than published xxy.Z (covid change); and when to change to tower frequency without explicitly being told to change frequencies. This is different than when communicating to ATC while in-flight - they tell you when to change frequencies.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Single pilot reported becoming confused with ATC's instructions because the Controller was using nonstandard COVID induced workload shortcuts at this location.

Narrative: Began takeoff roll on Taxiway Alpha - went 30 feet and realized I was still on taxiway; I stopped at the same time the Tower was telling me to do the same; I then turned around left at Taxiway G back to H then departed [Runway] XXR.Contributing factors: 1. I am a low-time Tower controlled departure pilot; 2. The COVID scenario changed departure frequency from published XXY.Z to XAB.C. 3. When I first contacted Clearance Delivery they asked if I was requesting flight following and I affirmed this and the readback from Clearance Delivery terminated in an abbreviated sentence of 'NXXXXX request.' I waited a time and asked what that meant and the controlled told me he was working on my request and gave the squawk code and the Departure Frequency and to contact Ground. 4. Ground told me to proceed to XXR via Hotel but didn't tell me to use Alpha or the apron. I proceeded to Hotel via the apron; did my runup. I contacted Tower and they cleared me for XXR. I crossed single-yellow solid/stripped and then proceeded to accelerate down Alpha. I realized at the same time Tower notified me to stop that I was on taxiway (despite all the signs and my previous awareness that Hot Spot 1 exists and I reviewed that prior to flight) - went about 30 feet.There are many assumptions that are made in communicating with Clearance Delivery; Ground; Tower - some of which are not obvious - the one word 'request' didn't tell me to wait while waiting for the request while he worked on it. Also; when to change frequencies and when to stay.I spoke to ZZZ controller and he explained to me why XAB.C was given to me rather than published XXY.Z (COVID change); and when to change to Tower frequency without explicitly being told to change frequencies. This is different than when communicating to ATC while in-flight - they tell you when to change frequencies.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.