Narrative:

I departed with a planned cruising altitude of 7;500 feet. All comms worked perfectly during initial take off and all instruments worked perfect during my run-up check. As I left ZZZ airspace; I was handed off to approach; established two-way contact; and continued to climb to 7;500 feet (with an altitude restriction of 7;000 from approach; which they removed shortly after and I continued to climb to 7;500). As I passed to the west of ZZZ1 my radio became crackly and I couldn't hear approach easily. I tried unplugging my headset to clear away any dirt and plugging it back in but it didn't seem to reduce the crackling noise. At this point; I tried to contact approach again as I heard a request for me; but couldn't make it out so I asked for a read back. At this point I realized approach couldn't hear me. Shortly after this; the entire garmin panel and radio went dead and I lost all communication; I was just north of ZZZ1 at 7;500 [feet]. The radio and garmin both began to reboot and I could hear approach for a brief moment but they couldn't hear me; and shortly after this the radio and garmin went dead again and didn't turn back on. At this point I decided to turn back to ZZZ. Upon turning back towards ZZZ I squawked 7600 to inform ATC that my radio had failed. I flew my way back to ZZZ; descending to pattern altitude and made right traffic for runway xx. I confirmed a green light from the tower to ensure it was safe for me to land and proceeded to follow the traffic pattern and land safely down on runway xx.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: PA-28 pilot reported a radio communication failure led to a return to the departure airport where light gun signals were received for landing clearance.

Narrative: I departed with a planned cruising altitude of 7;500 feet. All comms worked perfectly during initial take off and all instruments worked perfect during my run-up check. As I left ZZZ airspace; I was handed off to Approach; established two-way contact; and continued to climb to 7;500 feet (with an altitude restriction of 7;000 from Approach; which they removed shortly after and I continued to climb to 7;500). As I passed to the west of ZZZ1 my radio became crackly and I couldn't hear Approach easily. I tried unplugging my headset to clear away any dirt and plugging it back in but it didn't seem to reduce the crackling noise. At this point; I tried to contact Approach again as I heard a request for me; but couldn't make it out so I asked for a read back. At this point I realized Approach couldn't hear me. Shortly after this; the entire Garmin panel and radio went dead and I lost all communication; I was just north of ZZZ1 at 7;500 [feet]. The radio and Garmin both began to reboot and I could hear Approach for a brief moment but they couldn't hear me; and shortly after this the Radio and Garmin went dead again and didn't turn back on. At this point I decided to turn back to ZZZ. Upon turning back towards ZZZ I Squawked 7600 to inform ATC that my radio had failed. I flew my way back to ZZZ; descending to pattern altitude and made right traffic for Runway XX. I confirmed a green light from the Tower to ensure it was safe for me to land and proceeded to follow the traffic pattern and land safely down on Runway XX.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.