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Hello all, I'm about a 150 hour pilot, fly for fun all VFR in Northern California. I'm getting pretty competent with the GPS and frequently setup a flight plan. Rarely do direct anymore.

I like to use enroute fixs along the way and as a final waypoint before the airport. This process gives me a nice approach for class D airports.

So the question is, since I am at an exact point in space that the class D tower knows very well is there any reason why I should not report that? The fix reporting would take the place of the usual first call where I report some geographical reference, altitude and ATIS. Instead I could report the fix, altitude and ATIS.

The thing that bothers me about reporting to an unfamiliar airport is that it's usually something vague such as '15 miles to the SouthEast', altitude, etc.

The one thing I could see as wrong is I may confuse the tower with being an IFR flight since I'm reporting something which exists for IFR traffic.

Appreciate comments.

I have two comments. First, the tower won't confuse you with IFR. They would be expecting you if you WERE IFR. So in my opinion that isn't an issue.

And second, at the risk of starting a firestorm of debate, if you use an IFR fix for your reporting point, the VFR traffic may not have a clue as to where that fix is. I use bearing/distance/altitude and let it go at that.

I forgot about the other VFR traffic. I've even been in the situation where someone reported a fix and I didn't know where they were.

Thanks for the response, glad I asked.

I have never had much problem reporting 10 SW for landing. Sometimes they ask for an IDENT and then maybe report closer in.