FRUSTRATED C177 PLT EVENTUALLY FINDS P50 AMENDED DEP RTEING VIA TFD VORTAC; CAUSED BY NAVAID ID PLACEMENT OF PXR VORTAC.

Narrative

I WAS FRUSTRATED (AND CTLRS AS WELL) WITH MY INABILITY TO LOCATE THE TFD FIX ON MY LOW ALTITUDE ENRTE CHART. THE CHART; ISSUED FEB 2002; IS CONFUSING AND CAUSED ME TO MISSET FREQ AND ROUTING. ATC WAS NOT HAPPY WITH WHAT MUST HAVE APPEARED AT FIRST TO THEM TO BE A BLATANT DISREGARD OF THEIR INSTRUCTIONS AND ULTIMATELY I FELT INCOMPETENT WHEN I FINALLY LOCATED THE APPROPRIATE FIX. ON MORE THAN ONE OCCASION; ATC REVECTORED ME AFTER ATTEMPTING TO TURN ON WHAT I THOUGHT WAS THE CORRECT COURSE. WHEN I FINALLY DISCOVERED MY ERROR; I SIMPLY COULD NOT LOCATE THE NAVAID ON THE CHART. I FILED TO PXR BUT WAS CLRED TO STANFIELD TO JOIN V-94. I WAS GIVEN VECTORS TO THE FIX; BUT DUE TO THE CONFUSING CHART; I COULD NOT FIND 'STANFELD'; CAUSING ME TO ASK 'STUPID' QUESTIONS OF VERY BUSY CTLRS. BECAUSE THE PHOENIX VOR 'LABEL' IS ACTUALLY OVERLAYING THE TFD VOR; IN THE BUSY COCKPIT; I MISTOOK IT FOR PXR. THE TFD 'LABEL' IS LOCATED WELL AWAY FROM IT'S VOR SYMBOL SO I SIMPLY DIDN'T NOTICE IT. AS I'VE NEVER BEEN IN THE PHOENIX AREA BEFORE; I WAS TOTALLY UNFAMILIAR WITH THESE LOCAL LANDMARKS. THIS CHART SHOULD BE REDESIGNED TO REDUCE OR ELIMINATE THE POSSIBILITY OF CONFUSION. IN THE FUTURE; I WILL BE MORE CAREFUL WHEN I DON'T COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND A CLRNC TO SORT OUT THE ISSUE ON THE GND. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR ADVISED THAT HE SHOULD HAVE TAKEN GREATER CARE IN BECOMING FAM WITH THE L3; IFR ENRTE LOW ALT CHART DURING PREFLT PLANNING. NOW THAT HE IS AWARE OF THE POTENTIAL OF THIS TYPE SYMBOLOGY PLACEMENT; HE ADVISED HE IS MUCH MORE CAUTIOUS OF RTE PLANNING.