LGT ACFT SLOW CLRING RWY. MLG ON CLOSE FINAL CAPT DECIDED TO GAR. FO ON WRONG TWR FREQ; HAD LOST COM WITHOUT KNOWING IT.

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WE WERE HANDED OVER TO TWR AT CVG ON A HDG TO INTERCEPT THE FINAL COURSE FOR RWY 18R AT 3000 FT AND APPROX 13-14 MI FROM TOUCHDOWN. I SWITCHED TO TWR FREQ OF 118.3 AND CHKED IN AND WAS CLRED TO LAND FOLLOWING AN LGT X WHICH WAS 5 MI AHEAD OF US. APCH HAD REQUESTED US TO MAINTAIN 180 KTS TO THE FINAL MARKER. AFTER BEING CLRED TO LAND BY THE TWR I RECALL HEARING AN LGT Y CLRED TO LAND FOLLOWING US AND THEN A SECOND ACFT CLRED FOLLOWING THE LGT Y. AS WE CROSSED THE FINAL MARKER; WHICH IS 3.9 MI FROM TOUCHDOWN; THE CAPT CALLED FOR GEAR DOWN AND THE BEFORE LNDG CHKLIST WAS COMPLETED. I RECALL CALLING ON LOC TRK AND GS TRK AND ON SPD AS WE CROSSED 1000 FT AGL. I ALSO REMEMBER SEEING THE LGT X AHEAD OF US ROLLING OUT LONG DOWN THE FIELD AND THE TWR SAYING TO THEM TO CLR L AND CONTACT GND WHEN CLR. AT ABOUT THE MIDDLE MARKER THE CAPT CALLED AN ACFT ON THE RWY AND BEGAN EXECUTING A MISSED APCH AND I CALLED THE TWR TO SAY WE WERE GOING MISSED APCH. BECAUSE I RECEIVED NO RESPONSE FROM THE TWR I LOOKED DOWN AT THE RADIO AND FOUND IT TO BE ON 118.27. AFTER CORRECTING THE FREQ I CALLED THE TWR AGAIN TO ANNOUNCE OUR MISSED APCH AND THEY SWITCHED US TO APCH CTL. WE WERE VECTORED AROUND FOR AN UNEVENTFUL APCH AND LNDG TO RWY 18R. IT IS MY BEST GUESS THAT WHEN I REACHED AROUND THE THROTTLE QUADRANT TO ARM THE GND SPOILERS I INADVERTENTLY BUMPED THE FREQ KNOB FOR THE NUMBER 1 RADIO WAS ON THE INBOARD WINDOW AT THE TIME AND MY ARM WOULD HAVE BEEN VERY CLOSE TO THE FREQ KNOB DURING SPOILER ARMING. I SHOULD ALSO MENTION THAT 118.27 IS ONE 'KNOB CLICK' AWAY FROM 118.3.