TRACK DEV CAUSED BY IMPROPER ORIENTATION OF THE 'TO - FROM' VOR INDICATOR.

Narrative

WHILE ON AN IFR PLANNED FLT WHICH INCLUDED A LEG ON VICTOR 297 BTWN MBS AND PLN; THERE WAS AN INADVERTENT EXCURSION TO THE W OF THE AIRWAY. THE EXCURSION OCCURRED NEAR THE TRANSITION FROM FLYING FROM THE MBS VOR TO FLYING TO THE PLN VOR. NEAR THE TRANSITION POINT; THE #2 NAV RADIO WA INADVERTENTLY TUNED TO THE PLN VOR WITH A 'FROM' INDICATION. DURING THE SHORT PERIOD FOLLOWING; I ATTEMPTED TO NAV USING THE RECEIVER AS IF IT HAD BEEN PROPERLY TUNED WITH TO THE AIRWAY RADIAL WITH A 'TO' INDICATION. I DID DETECT THE PROB WITHIN SEVERAL MINS. AT APPROX THE SAME TIME I WAS GIVEN A VECTOR TO RE-INTERCEPT THE AIRWAY RADIAL BY THE CTR CTLR. ALTHOUGH I DON'T BELIEVE I DID PENETRATE RESTR AIRSPACE; IF THE ERROR HAD GONE UNDETECTED; RESTR AIRSPACE TO THE W OF THE AIRWAY COULD HAVE BEEN VIOLATED. UPON RE-INTERCEPTING THE AIRWAY AND PROPERLY TUNING THE NAV RADIO; THE FLT CONTINUED WITHOUT INCIDENT. I FEEL THE PRIMARY CAUSE OF THE INCIDENT WAS MY LACK OF RECENT IMC EXPERIENCE AND THE RESULTING TENSION.