PLT OF C172 TAXIES WITHOUT CLRNC AT CRE WHEN HE FAILED TO NOTE THE EXISTENCE OF AN OPERATING CTL TWR FREQ DURING PREFLT PREPARATION.

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DURING TAXI; I RPTED MY POS AND INTENTIONS ON THE UNICOM FREQ AND HEARD OTHER COMS FROM TIME TO TIME UNRELATED TO MY OP OR POS. AFTER A RUN-UP NEAR THE END OF THE TXWY FOR RWY 5; I ANNOUNCED MY INTENTION TO TAKE THE ACTIVE RWY (WHICH WAS NEARLY ALIGNED WITH THE WIND DIRECTION) AND REQUESTED ANY ACFT IN THE PATTERN TO ADVISE OF POS. AFTER A PAUSE OF SEVERAL SECONDS; AND IN THE ABSENCE OF ANY RESPONSE TO THAT RADIO CALL; I ANNOUNCED THAT I WAS TAKING THE ACTIVE RWY FOR TKOF AND BEGAN TO ROTATE THE PLANE SLIGHTLY (WHILE ON THE TXWY NEAR THE HOLD SHORT LINE) TO GET A CLR VIEW OF THE FINAL APCH PATH TO THE RWY TO MAKE A FINAL VISUAL CHK FOR TFC. AS THE PLANE ROTATED; SOMEONE ON THE UNICOM FREQ ADVISED ME TO CHANGE MY RADIO FREQ TO THE TWR FREQ. I IMMEDIATELY BECAME AWARE OF MY MISTAKEN BELIEF; TUNED TO THE TWR FREQ; AND CALLED THE TWR. AS I PREPARED FOR THE FLT; IN ACCORDANCE WITH A PREPARATION PROC I LEARNED IN (AND RELIGIOUSLY USED SINCE) 1965 WHEN LEARNING TO FLY; I WROTE DOWN ALL FREQS I WOULD NEED THE NEXT MORNING UP TO (AND INCLUDING) THE FREQ FOR MYRTLE BEACH APCH/DEP TO REQUEST FLT FOLLOWING AFTER TKOF. BECAUSE I REMEMBERED THE FIELD AS HAVING A NON-OPERATIONAL TWR; WHEN I CHKED THE ARPT FACILITY DIRECTORY FOR FREQS; I RAN MY FINGER DOWN THE PAGE FOR CRE LOOKING FOR A UNICOM AND WX FREQ. IMMEDIATELY UPON FINDING THESE; I WROTE THEM DOWN ON A SHEET BEING PREPARED FOR MY KNEEBOARD AND LOOKED NO FURTHER. THE TWR AND GND FREQS ARE LISTED LOWER ON THE PAGE. I DID NOT PROCEED FURTHER IN THE MISTAKEN BELIEF THAT I HAD ALREADY EXTRACTED THE INFO I NEEDED. UPON ARR AT THE ARPT; I USED MY NOTES TO SET THE RADIOS BEFORE TAXIING. HAD I USED PRIMARY SOURCE MATERIAL (I HAD A CURRENT SECTIONAL; A CURRENT ARPT FACILITY DIRECTORY; AND UP-TO-DATE DATABASE WITH FREQS IN AN IFR CERTIFIED GPS; AN UP-TO-DATE DATABASE WITH FREQS IN AN MX20 MFD; AND 3 OTHER VFR ONBOARD REFS) TO SET THE RADIOS; THIS EVENT WOULD NOT HAVE OCCURRED. AFTER SEVERAL HRS OF ANALYZING THIS SIT; I HAVE DETERMINED THAT I MUST CHANGE MY PREFLT PROCS. I HAVE DETERMINED THAT THIS EVENT WOULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED IF I REFERRED IN THE COCKPIT TO 'ORIGINAL INFO' FOR RADIO FREQS WHEN SETTING HIS RADIOS FOR DEP. ACCORDINGLY; I NOW BELIEVE THAT ANY BENEFIT DERIVED FROM THE ADVANCE PLANNING OF RADIO FREQS IS MORE THAN OFFSET BY THE RISK OF ERRORS IN WRITING OUT THE INFO IN ADVANCE.