AFTER RECENT INST PROFICIENCY CHK; GA FILES AND FLIES IFR. ENRTE; IMPROPER COM OP CAUSES PARTIAL NORDO SIT.

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ON OCT/SUN/01; I DEPARTED ILG ON AN IFR FLT PLAN TO TGI. IN SEP/01; I HAD COMPLETED AN INST PROFICIENCY CHK SINCE I HAD NOT FLOWN ON INSTS OR ON AN INST FLT PLAN FOR SEVERAL YEARS. I HAD TROUBLE IDENTING VORS DURING THE FLT AND PERIODICALLY ACTIVATED SWITCHES ON THE NAV/COM CTL CONSOLE TO MONITOR VOR IDENT XMISSION. APCHING SBY; I WAS WORKING WITH PATUXENT (NHK) APCH ON COM #1 AND TACKING SBY ON NAV #1. AT ABOUT 12 NM FROM SBY; I ENTERED A SCATTERED LAYER OF CLOUDS AT 4000 FT; THE ALT I HAD BEEN ASSIGNED. THE CTLR CLRED ME DIRECT TGI AND I TURNED TO A NEW HEADING. AT THAT POINT; I TRIED AGAIN TO IDENT SBY. IN ACTIVATING THE SWITCHES ON THE CTL CONSOLE; I INADVERTENTLY PLACED THE OUTPUT SWITCH IN THE NEUTRAL POS (NEITHER SPEAKER NOR PHONE) BUT I DID NOT REALIZE THE ERROR. SEVERAL MINS LATER; I REALIZED THE FREQ WAS SILENT. I ATTEMPTED TO CHK IN WITH APCH; BUT RECEIVED NO RESPONSE. I TRIED DIFFERENT RADIOS AND A DIFFERENT FREQ WITHOUT SUCCESS. I ASSUMED I HAD A RADIO FAILURE AND TRIED TO CONNECT A HAND-HELD NAV/COM TO AN EXTERNAL ANTENNA. WHILE I WAS DISTRACTED BY THIS EFFORT; I LOST APPROX 300 FT OF ALT. WHEN I REALIZED THIS; I CORRECTED BACK TO 4000 FT AND RECALLED MY TRAINING TO 'FLY THE AIRPLANE.' I WAS IN AND OUT OF IMC AT THIS TIME. I CONTINUED TO FLY HEADING AND ALT UNTIL I BECAME CLR OF IMC. AT THIS POINT; I ATTEMPTED TO RAISE APCH ON COM #1 AND DISCOVERED THE SWITCH SETTING. CORRECTING THE SETTING RESTORED CONTACT. I SHOULD HAVE GIVEN PRIORITY TO FLYING THE ASSIGNED ALT AND HEADING. TROUBLESHOOTING THE COMS PROB WAS SECONDARY. WHEN I REALIZED THE CORRECT PRIORITIES; I ULTIMATELY WAS ABLE TO SOLVE THE COMS PROB. SECOND; I SHOULD HAVE USED A MORE SYSTEMATIC APCH TO THE COM PROB. IF I HAD FOCUSED ON 'WHAT WAS THE LAST THING I DID BEFORE LOSING COM?' I WOULD HAVE REEXAMINED THE CONSOLE SETTINGS.