AN ACR PILOT NOTES MAKING A NAV ERROR WHEN FLYING A C172 AND APPLYING ADVANCED NAV SYSTEM PROCEDURES TO A BASIC NAV SYSTEM WITHOUT FMS FUNCTIONS.

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I WORK FOR AN ACR AS A CAPT ON B757 AND B767 ACFT; AND I ALSO OWN A C172. THIS OCCURRED WHILE FLYING MY C172 FOR PLEASURE. DUE TO WX AT ZZZ BEING 200-300 FT OVCST AND 1-2 MI VISIBILITY; ELECTED TO FILE AN IFR TO DEPART. WX WAS BETTER TO THE E AND THIS WAS BASICALLY A LCL IFR CONDITION. GOT MY IFR CLRNC WHILE ON THE GND AT ZZZ. IT WAS DIFFERENT FROM WHAT I FILED; BUT I HAD THE CHARTS FOR THE SID. AFTER DEPARTING AND WORKING APCH WAS CLR DIRECT ZZZ1. TUNED MY FREQ SELECTOR AND CTRED THE OBS. 170-180 DEGS CTRED MY NEEDLE. STARTED TO TURN TO 170 DEG HDG. APCH CTL ASKED WHAT HDG I WAS FLYING. A DEAD GIVEAWAY THAT SOMETHING WASN'T RIGHT. APCH INSTRUCTED ME TO TURN BACK TO A 90 DEG HDG. WHEN QUESTIONED BY ATC IF I WAS HDG TO ZZZ1; I REPLIED I MUST HAVE THE WRONG FREQ DIALED IN. IT WAS AT THIS TIME I SELECTED THE AUDIO FOR THE NAV AND DID NOT GET AN IDENT. ABOUT 2 MINS LATER; THE ZZZ1 IDENT CAME OVER THE SPEAKER; THE OBS DID A FULL SCALE DEFLECTION AND A DIRECT HDG WAS ABOUT A 95 DEG HDG. I THEN CONTACTED APCH THAT IT APPEARED MY PROB WAS NOT RECEIVING A GOOD SIGNAL WHEN CLRED DIRECT ZZZ1. CAUSES: I AM USED TO A 2 PLT COCKPIT WHEN IN IFR. ALSO; THE BOEINGS HAVE FULL FMC; GPS; IRS AND ALL THE DATABASES. WHEN A DIRECT RTE IS SELECTED IT JUST POPS UP. NOT HAVING ALL THIS GEE WHIZ EQUIP; JUST SELECTING THE FREQ AND CTRING THE OBS DID NOT GUARANTEE ME A DIRECT RTE. SHOULD HAVE IDENTED THE NAVAID BEFORE TURNING. ALSO; THE CTLR MAY NOT HAVE BEEN AWARE OF THE 'OLD' STYLE NAV EQUIP THIS ACFT HAS. WE MIGHT HAVE BEEN A TAD TOO FAR FROM ZZZ1 AT A TOO LOW ALT TO GET A GOOD SIGNAL WHEN INITIALLY CLRED. WE MUST USE CAUTION WHEN FLYING NEW GENERATION AND OLD GENERATION ACFT AND REMEMBER BASIC PROCS.