AnotherTryRespondingTo"StupidQuestion."

[Groundfisherman]

I was not able to talk to anybody that has ever used a GPS receiver. I was attracted to the concept, but decided, only having an iMac, I wouldn't be able to download maps. Then I thought of the possibility of being able to make my own maps. I talked to a fellah at GanderMountain who had used a GPS and he convinced me I COULD make my own maps, so I bought a Garmin 72 from him for $150,

I go to http://topozone.com/ , put in a location, such as Darwin, Il. It finds the location. I click on the name it gives me and I get a topographic map of the place with a cross showing the location of coordinates that appear above. That's UTM, and my Garmin 72 wants the format WGS 84. I then pull down on the menu to the left labeled "Coordinate Format." The one that works for me is the one labeled DD MM MM. I don't know anything about that, but that it works if I put those numbers in the appropriate spaces. There's always one digit left over on my machine, so I put a zero in it.

Works for me.

 

[Andrew Kalinowski]

In Topozone, searching by name, you do get map with UTM coordinates displayed but,
They can NOT be simply input to a receiver that is set to DD MM MM format!!!!
Well, you can input the same numbers as in UTM but they will be taken by the receivers as degrees and minutes and the receiver will place the point in entirely different location which could be anywhere on the planet!
To input UTM co-ordinates you have to set your receiver to UTM format.
Regarding WGS84

 

[Groundfisherman]

That's not what I said, exactly. What I MENT to say was that at the Topozone site, after you get the map you asked for, it IS in UTM format, BUT you can change the format -- to the one my GARMIN72 wants. I KNOW. I've DONE IT!
Like I said: you go to a window just to the left of the map, it says "Coordinate Format." You pull down on the arrow and get: DD DDD, D/M/S, and DD MM MM. If you select the last (and you click on "update map"), then the coordinates change at the top of the map to coordinates that work in my Garmin72.

 

[Andrew Kalinowski]

Sorry, I guess you confused me a bit with your original post.
You wrote that: "That's UTM, and my Garmin 72 wants the format WGS 84"

The topozone co-ordinates given (before changing format) are UTM in WGS84 Datum.
Looks like your receiver is set to DD MM MM format in WGS84 datum and that's why the input works for you (once you get Topozone to report DD MM MM instead of UTM). In your (and most others) receiver This setting can be changed to several other formats. In fact, you could change the setting of your receiver to UTM and than you would not need to change the co-ordinates on Topozone, just input as they are.
The bottom line is that the format AND datum that are set in the receiver have to exactly match the format AND datum of data that you input.
Note: After the input, you can change the setting in the receiver and it will automatically recalculate to the new format.