INSTRUCTOR OF SMA TRAINING ACFT LANDED AT LARGE METRO ARPT WITHOUT LNDG CLRNC DUE TO MISHANDLING OF SETTING THE TWR FREQ.

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AFTER HDOF TO ORD APCH; I BEGAN PREPARING THE APCH. ATIS HAD 4R AND 9R IN USE FOR LNDG. I WAS ADVISED TO EXPECT 4R. I PUT THE PUBLISHED TWR FREQ 126.90 IN MY SECOND RADIO; THE LOC FOR 4R IN NAV 1; DPA VOR FOR LOC FIXES ON NAV 2. JUST OUTSIDE THE MARKER THE CTLR HAD US TURN L AND PARALLEL THE LOC FOR AN MLG ACFT TO PASS US ON OUR R. AFTER RPTING VISUAL CONTACT WITH THE MLG; NOW SLIGHTLY AHEAD OF US; I WAS CLRED FOR THE VISUAL APCH AND INSTRUCTED TO CONTACT TWR AT 120.75. I HAD TROUBLE UNDERSTANDING THE FREQ AND ASKED THE CTLR TO SAY AGAIN. AGAIN GARBLED. THE RWY WITHIN ABOUT 3 MI; I WAS GETTING NERVOUS; THINKING THAT I HAD UNDERSTOOD THE FREQ I BEGAN TO DIAL IT IN; BUT IN MY 'PANIC' ON THE COM WHICH HAD THE APCH FREQ; DELETING IT. THE TWR FREQ WHICH I BELIEVED TO HAVE UNDERSTOOD WAS WRONG (I WAS POSITIVE ON 12?.?5; BUT WAS IT 127 OR 120; AND .75 OR .05 ???). NOW I HAD NEITHER TWR NOR APCH. BEING VERY DISCIPLINED AT SWAPPING BTWN THE 2 RADIOS; I RARELY WRITE APCH FREQS DOWN. I ALWAYS HAVE THEM DIALED IN; READY TO SWITCH BACK AND FORTH; SHOULD A MISSED APCH BECOME NECESSARY. EVEN ON THIS VFR DAY; I DID THE SAME THING. SHOULD 1 RADIO FAIL; MY GRAPHIC NUMBER MEMORY HAS NEVER FAILED TO RECOGNIZE THE CORRECT NUMBER WHEN I SEE IT AGAIN; E.G. ON THE APCH PLATE. (I HAVE AT LEAST 100 TELEPHONE NUMBERS MEMORIZED). PROBLEM: SO WHAT WAS I TO DO WHICH WOULD SAVE MY ASS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE AND AT THE SAME TIME CAUSE THE LEAST CONFUSION AND COMPLICATIONS TO THE CTLR? FOR SQUAWKING 7700 FOR 1 MIN AND THEN 7600 I WAS TOO CLOSE TO THE THRESHOLD. I COULD DO A MISSED APCH; BUT THEN WHAT; HAVING NEITHER FREQ? I FIGURED; FOR A MISSED APCH I COULD CERTAINLY FIND 1 FREQ FROM THE PLATES TO CONTACT ANY CTLR. BUT; I COULD DO THAT NOW; AS WELL; AND KEEP THE MISSED APCH AS A LAST OPTION. I SWITCHED TO 126.90; STILL DIALED IN MY OTHER RADIO AND HEARD ORD TWR GIVE TKOF CLRNCS. THEY WERE QUITE BUSY; BUT I MANAGED 3 TIMES TO GET IN BTWN; UNTIL WHEN I WAS MORE THAN HALFWAY DOWN THE RWY; GOING 90 KTS; FLAPS STILL RETRACTED; AND READY FOR THE MISSED APCH AT ANY SECOND; I FINALLY HEARD THAT CTLR SAY 'YOU ARE CLRED TO LAND.' CUT PWR; FLAPS 20 DEGS; BALLOONING; I BROUGHT THE ACFT TO THE GND; NAVY STYLE; AND BROUGHT IT TO A STOP LESS THAN 500 FT OF A GREATER THAN 10000 FT RWY. DURING THE WHOLE TIME; FROM LOSING CONTACT UNTIL GETTING THE CLRNC; I WAS SCANNING THE TAXIWAYS; RWYS; INSTS; AND THE TWR; HOPING FOR A LIGHT GUN SIGNAL; AS IT WAS OBVIOUS THAT WE HAD LOST COM; EVEN WITHOUT 7700/7600!