Lonely up there?

Over this past weekend, the center frequency I was on appeared to go
quiet. I was busy talking to my pax (one was flying in a spamcan for
the first time and had more questions than my 10 y.o. daughter), so I
didn't notice. Near the airspace I generally get transferred from
center to approach, I didn't get the handoff I expected. I became
concerned and asked center for a radio check and got no response. I
tried 3 or 4 times over about a 5 minute period and again got no
response. The frequency was dead silent.

Then I switched to the approach frequency in that area and asked for a
radio check again a few times, but again - silence.

I happily continued on my as-filed route and contemplated squawking
7600. I then switched to Com2 to see if it was a problem with Com1 and
called up approach, who informed me that center and approach had been
trying to contact me for the last 10 minutes. I apologized that my
Com1 had failed. (Interestingly, Com1 worked fine on the way home. I
suspect the right-seat pax hit something on the com panel and I didn't
notice.)

Luckily, I didn't get vectors to the penalty box and the rest of the
flight was fabulous.

If the frequency is silent for longer than I'm comfortable with, I
always ask for a radio check.