MGRS entry confusion

[tekrc]

I call the JTAC, they go through the 9 line and give me a mgrs reference. TSD> Point> Add> enter labels> reach coordinate entry page. enter the reference coordinate given. GG323360 (insufficient digits so add 00 at the end)> set elevation 35> enter. point created in the wrong place and not by a little bit. is the format just wrong or did I mess something up?

the pictures show:
1 what JTAC gave me. 
2 T01 is a manually set point for where the target roughly actually is. T02 is where the given coordinates put the marker

[Raptor9]

21 minutes ago, tekrc said:

 GG323360 (insufficient digits so add 00 at the end)

You don't add additional zeros to the all at the end.  If you are given a set of coordinates in the following formats, here is how they are entered:
4-digit: GG 32 36 entered as GG32003600
6-digit: GG 323 360 entered as GG32303600
10-digit: GG 32328 36131 entered as GG3233 3613 (with the 5th and 10th digits rounded up or down to keep it as 8-digit format)

Edited March 18, 2022 by Raptor9

[FalcoGer]

Was just about to write the same thing. But while we're at it, can we enter L/L in DDMMSS(.ss) or L/L DDMM.mm(m(m))?

[Raptor9]

1 hour ago, FalcoGer said:

Was just about to write the same thing. But while we're at it, can we enter L/L in DDMMSS(.ss) or L/L DDMM.mm(m(m))?

To enter L/L, you enter it as such:
N 12 34.56 W 123 45.67 would be entered as "N123456W1234567" in one continuous string on the keyboard. This is why the N, E, S and W keys have the white border around them so you can easily snap to them with your eyes. If someone gives you N 12 34.567 W 123 45.678, you would round up the last digits since you can only enter two digits after the decimal.

[FalcoGer]

does easting/westing need the leading zeroes?

[Raptor9]

Yes. How I remember Lat/Long entry is telling myself "Six/Seven".  Meaning I always need 6 numbers for Latitude and always need 7 numbers for Longitude.

[frostycab]

Check the Major Grid reference is correct. That's the first 3 characters before the "GG" in your example. I've noticed that quite often the first set of auto-populated MGRS data has entirely the wrong grid. I normally resolve it by checking my PP on the TSD and using that grid, and then it works fine afterwards. If you're in the Caucuses map then I think most of the map is in grids 37T and 38T.

The big giveaway that usually tips me off to the problem is when entering data from the kneeboard and the altitudes don't match.

Edited March 18, 2022 by frostycab

[Raptor9]

The MGRS will automatically set MGRS coordinates to the current aircraft coordinates at the time of point entry, so unless you are on the edge of a square identifier, or plugging in a grid from far away, it should be correct.

[jaylw314]

4 hours ago, Raptor9 said:

You don't add additional zeros to the all at the end.  If you are given a set of coordinates in the following formats, here is how they are entered:
4-digit: GG 32 36 entered as GG32003600
6-digit: GG 323 360 entered as GG32303600
10-digit: GG 32328 36131 entered as GG3233 3613 (with the 5th and 10th digits rounded up or down to keep it as 8-digit format)

 

Pedantic alert!

AFAIK you ALWAYS truncate or round down if you drop digits, so GG 32328 36131 would be entered as GG 3232 3613.  Not all map grids are the full 100,000m^2, so in theory, if you round up, you might have a grid reference that doesn't exist, and should actually should be in the adjacent grid.  Therefore, the standard practice is to always drop the unused digits.  Obviously this is pretty rarely an issue, hence the pendantic-ness

 

Edited March 18, 2022 by jaylw314

[frostycab]

1 hour ago, Raptor9 said:

The MGRS will automatically set MGRS coordinates to the current aircraft coordinates at the time of point entry, so unless you are on the edge of a square identifier, or plugging in a grid from far away, it should be correct.

That's not what I've observed, so I've created a separate bug report just for that. I'm not talking about the Georgia map where we have 37T in the West and 38T in the East of the map. These errors are orders of magnitude apart, it seems, and I've been nowhere near the edge of a grid when they've happened.

I'm happy to concede that it could well be down to user error on my part, but I posted the question for ED so I'll have to see what they say. I'll try to make notes if and when it happens on my next flight.

[launchedsquid]

On 3/19/2022 at 6:14 AM, Raptor9 said:

You don't add additional zeros to the all at the end.  If you are given a set of coordinates in the following formats, here is how they are entered:
4-digit: GG 32 36 entered as GG32003600
6-digit: GG 323 360 entered as GG32303600
10-digit: GG 32328 36131 entered as GG3233 3613 (with the 5th and 10th digits rounded up or down to keep it as 8-digit format)

 

thankyou so much for this explanation, I couldn't figure it out on my own, tried a few different things that were all basically rounding up and down and obviously not working, and thought I was going mad.