It was over Germany.
You can leave it on 25KHz and switch to 8.33 only when assigned such a frequency. Some time in the future, the point will probably come when it doesn’t make sense any longer to be on 25 KHz per default, but we’re still far away from that.
Just know how the switching of the modes is done 
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I should add that I was given three 8.33 frequencies on this trip. So things are changing…
Which airspace was that in? I haven’t bothered to change the setup in my 430W yet….but maybe I should?
I should add that I was given three 8.33 frequencies on this trip. So things are changing…
I think I have seen that German ATCO’s “explanations” on that forum. Even google translated, they are in an “interesting” tone I hope he doesn’t speak to pilots in that way. If Europe still had viable armed forces, we would have WW3 by now.
But then a good number of people I know operate diametrically opposed personas on the internet so he’s no doubt a really nice and pleasant chap in real life who hands out 150nm DCTs 
What you didn’t mention is that this applies to all routing software and generally all routings not handcrafted by the ATCO/AIS guys themselves. Certain measures can be taken to improve the situation but it is impossible to guarantee that a route will be accepted like filed because a lot of the operational information is simply not public.
Apart from avoiding waypoints only used for approaches, we also started coding some standard routes outside the UK. For now we have the Z departures for Egelsbach EDFE. These are completely unofficial (not found in the AIP) but very useful as the airspace is very dense around Frankfurt and you do not want to reprogram your GPS or write down a new clearance in that phase of flight. The other reason we did it is because IFPS does not allow coding rules for Z departures so DFS could not enforce it even if they wanted to. For the rest, we kindly ask the ANSPs to submit rules to Eurocontrol if there is something about a flight plan they are not happy with.
I’m also using the EuroGA autorouter, and this happens to me all the time when flying in Germany.
“PH-PCA are you ready to copy your routing?” and then I get a list of waypoints. The deviations between the filed and assigned route are usually very small.
It might have to do that the filed IFR waypoints are not enroute waypoints?
We’ve had these issues explained by a German ATCO on the German PuF forum a while ago. Achim has now also become quite an expert on these things.
Basically, many Autorouter routings (which produce an ACK at IFPS!) are not “appreciated” by German ATC and end up on a manual correction desk (not to be confused with the one in Brussels!). The ATCO assistant will then modify the routing. The weird thing is that the pilot will often never get to know anything about the change (the tower controller at the departure airport will still say “flight planned route”). That leads to pilots having different routings on their kneeboards than those that the enroute ATCOs have on their computers or flight strips. Leads to quite a bit of confusion in the air…
Would that have accounted for GAPLA and DITAM?
Also, from my notes, COL, GISEM and MASEK on the way to LKPR. The waypoint list from Eurocontrol for that flight is
08:19Z SFD F70 17
08:33Z LYD F70 49
08:37Z SANDY F70 57
08:43Z DVR F70 69
08:54Z KONAN F70 93
09:04Z KOK F100 118
09:17Z MAK F100 151
09:19Z GOLEX F100 156
09:26Z DENOX F100 172
09:41Z SOGRI F100 210
09:57Z PODEN F100 253
10:07Z ERUKI F100 276
10:18Z DITAM F100 306
10:31Z BEDSI F100 338
10:37Z TOBAK F100 354
10:49Z ARNIX F100 383
11:03Z VELIS F100 419
11:06Z BOKNI F100 428
11:12Z KODUK F100 443
11:17Z LONLI F100 456
11:24Z BAROB F100 473
11:29Z RONIG F100 485
11:35Z ODOMO F100 501
11:49Z LOMKI F100 536
11:56Z BAROX F67 555
Sometimes ATC give you an off-route waypoint to go to instead of giving you a vector.
That is very frequent in Germany. In most cases you fly direct and if Eurocontrol does not allow you to file a direct route, you get off-route waypoints.
It might have to do that the filed IFR waypoints are not enroute waypoints?
Exactly. At the Eurocontrol level, there is no distinction between enroute and approach waypoints. The Langen FIR allows DCTs of 40NM below FL140 and we would often pick a waypoint that is only used for approaches. Last week, we’ve switched to a newer version of the router which is able to avoid such waypoints (it checks if a waypoint is only used as part of approaches or also on airways).
This always used to happen to some degree.
Sometimes ATC give you an off-route waypoint to go to instead of giving you a vector. That has the subtle side effect that they are not responsible for your obstacle clearance (which, except in Spain , they would be if vectoring) but they won’t be using it for that reason.
It raises the issue of what to do in a lost-comms scenario, because the ICAO lost-comms procedure cannot be applied. You would just have to “do your own thing”.
But I think that often the enroute IFR controllers have a picture of your filed route in front of them which is simply different to what you filed. And I don’t think anybody outside ATC knows what that picture is or how it is generated. One comment I recall reading is that all the ATCO sees is a straight line through his sector, which would imply that the national ATC system runs a piece of software on the validated Eurocontrol route which determines the ATC sector boundaries and replaces the filed route segment between them with a straight line. Obviously that would make a mockery of the Eurocontrol system which pretends to be implementing airspace rules supplied by the member countries… there is however plenty of precedent for this with e.g. the UK system where many rules are not supplied to Eurocontrol so many flight plans validate but are actually useless.
I know there are ATCOs who read EuroGA and maybe one of them can comment?
It might have to do that the filed IFR waypoints are not enroute waypoints?
Anything that Eurocontrol validates must be a valid waypoint.
Last week I got an airway designator assigned, which was not on my filed route. That seems quite rare (haven’t had it before)…
That is very rare. I have had it 2-3 times. I recall one by London Control and one in Spain. It creates havoc because one rarely had the full airway chart easily accessible.
I used to fly with the whole route printed off into strip charts but about a year ago I decided that I never looked at them (plus they could not be printed on a cheap B&W laser so one got through a lot of inkjet ink, and I threw away my HP colour laser) so now I fly with just a whole-route printout (A4) and the ex-Flitestar plog which should hopefully have the entire waypoint list.
On top of that, EuroFPL emails me a waypoint list from Eurocontrol, shortly before the flight. This email however often doesn’t arrive. They are currently investigating it.
