Small Aircraft; High Wing; 1 Eng; Fixed Gear
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 26; Flight Crew Total 4779; Flight Crew Type 1830
Situational Awareness; Human-Machine Interface; Communication Breakdown; Troubleshooting
Conflict Ground Conflict; Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Aircraft
Flight Crew Rejected Takeoff; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Airport; Human Factors
I was taxiing for takeoff and announced back taxi to runup pad on Runway 26. I did not hear any other aircraft on the radio; but noticed I was getting a traffic alert of 0.3 nm on my ADS-B in cockpit display. I stopped and held short of the runway and noticed [another aircraft] departing on Runway 08. At this airport; the hold short line is really close to the runway. While I did not enter the runway; I was close enough to the [other aircraft] that I was uncomfortable.After departure; I realized that although the proper frequency was selected; the volume was turned all the way down on my Com 1 radio. My aircraft has Avidyne IFD GPS/NAV/COM Navigators installed. The #1 GPS is fed from both the essential and the secondary avionics bus. When I last updated my NAV databases; I had turned on the secondary bus but not the primary bus to minimize electrical draw. This powered the GPS side of the #1 IFD; but did not power the com radio portion of the #1 IFD. In doing this; the IFD reset the com radio to 118.0 and volume to 0. I reset the frequency but neglected to check the volume; hence the reason I did not hear the [the other aircraft] depart.Contributing factors are the taxiway design of the Lakefield Airport. I was at the furthest taxiway to the east (we do not have taxiway letters). It is my understanding that the FAA Airports Division has determined the taxiway is too close to the runway. There is a discussion to relocate the taxiway further to the north of the runway. This would make it much easier to see aircraft departing from the opposite end of the runway. Even in my aircraft; it's a really tight turn to be able to stay clear of the hold short line yet be able to see the approach end of Runway 08. A larger aircraft would be on the runway when turning to check for departing traffic. Additionally; there is not a calm wind runway designated at Lakefield Airport. I think designating a runway as such would also reduce the chances of a collision. I'd summarize this experience to say that I failed by not verifying my volume was adequate on my com radio. In the future I will either ask for a radio check (difficult as the airport is often unattended); or at least break squelch to verify the volume is adequate. Also; this airport is a lightly used; uncontrolled airport. I had a bad habit of glancing down the runway to make sure it was clear but not spending much time checking the runway. I will not take for granted that the runway is clear and will stop and make the extra effort to turn and check.
Pilot reported misconfiguring his radio which resulted in unheard traffic calls and a ground conflict with a departing aircraft.