Small Aircraft; Low Wing; 2 Eng; Retractable Gear
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 1; Flight Crew Total 8676; Flight Crew Type 1300
Communication Breakdown
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem
Environment - Non Weather Related; Human Factors
I had not flown for two and half months so it was time to refresh. I was flying with a safety pilot; practicing instrument approaches and takeoffs and landings at ZZZ1 and ZZZ2. At the time of the flight I did not realize this until after I sat down in the evening to relax at home. I recall after startup that I set my audio panel incorrectly and was then transmitting on my number one communication radio which was set to ZZZ Center and my number two radio set to CTAF. The mike button set for comm 1 and the speaker set to comm 2. So I was cross-channeling my transmissions. During this time we did not have the need to speak with any other pilots in the area and therefore I did not check my audio panel. I see that I was out of my element and rusty because usually I am checking squelch and verifying my transmissions with the radios when keying the push to talk button with the radio that I am using. I guess also when the Controller notifies a pilot of a communication error; we pilots tend to use them as a crutch to our errors and then make the correction. But we need to verify proper radios on our own before transmitting.
Pilot reported cross-channeling transmissions between Comm 1 and 2 radios.