“Langen Radar, D-EXXX, I need a few METARs, are you OK for me to switch over to FIS for this or will you handle it?” “D-EXXX, approved to switch to FIS, report back on frequency”.
That’s how I do it. If the sector has any traffic at all, it will let me call FIS, otherwise just give me the METARs. I never considered METARs to be a good reason to invest in a sat link which is also why I personally do not use an Iridium solution, the real value for me is in pictures (strikemap, IR sat, rain radar) and ad-hoc internet for email, instant messaging, etc.
Langen is about 1/4 as busy as London Control.
I often cannot even get a pee in between the times they call me up, but fortunately I can turn the heading bug with the other hand 
And no, it is not on youtube 
