A PA32 PLT HAS HIS RADIO XFER TO THE GND CTL FREQ WHILE HE WAS STILL ON FINAL APCH TO RWY 26R. HE DID NOT DISCOVER THIS UNTIL AFTER TOUCHDOWN.

Narrative

ON NOV/FRI/97; ON A VFR FLT FROM CMA USING FLT FOLLOWING TO ONT. I WAS ON A 2 MI R BASE TO RWY 26R AND WAS CLRED TO LAND ON RWY 26R BY TWR ON 120.6 WHEN MY #1 TRANSCEIVER MISCHANNELIZED OR XFERRED THE FREQ. AFTER I TOOK MY EYES OFF FROM IT; IT WENT TO GND CTL FREQ (121.9). I LANDED AND CALLED WHAT I BELIEVED TO BE TWR AND ASKED TO TURN OFF 'AT THE BEST INTXN TO GET TO THE FBO TO BE SHUTTLED TO THE ACR TERMINAL.' GND CTL ADVISED ME THAT I WAS ON GND CTL FREQ INSTEAD OF TWR FREQ AS I BELIEVED; AND THAT TWR HAD TRIED TO CALL ME ON 120.6 AND WAS UNABLE TO CONTACT ME. THE CTLR TOLD ME TO CALL THEM ON THE PHONE WHEN I GOT OUT OF THE PLANE. I CALLED AND TALKED TO THE SUPVR. THE #1 XMITTER HAD BEEN NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO CHANNELIZE AND WAS SLOW TO XFER THE FREQ FROM THE STORED POS TO THE ACTIVE POS. SOMETIMES I WOULD HAVE TO PRESS THE XFER SWITCH MORE THAN ONCE. THE COMPANY THAT I WORK FOR IS AN AIRPLANE DEALER AND THIS AIRPLANE HAD BEEN ACQUIRED IN A TRADE RECENTLY AND APPARENTLY HAD SAT IDLE FOR SOME TIME. THE ELECTRONIC PROBS OF THIS NATURE GET BETTER THROUGH USAGE. I WROTE THE AIRWORTHINESS DISCREPANCY AND GAVE IT TO THE MAINT DEPT AND TO THE AVIONICS SHOP ON THE ARPT (CMA) ON NOV/WED/97. THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME THAT IT MISCHANNELED TODAY (NOV/FRI/97). THE TWR SUPVR SAID THAT SHE WOULD CALL ME BACK NEXT WK TO MAKE SURE THAT THE RADIO GOT REPAIRED. IN THE FUTURE I WILL BE MORE PERSISTENT TO GET THINGS REPAIRED. ALSO; I WILL LOOK AT THE DIGITS ON THE RADIO EACH TIME I XMIT (HOWEVER IT DID XFER WHILE I WAS NOT WATCHING IT AND NOT XMITTING).