  We present HI observations of the galaxies in the first list of the
Karachentsev catalog of previously unknown nearby dwarf galaxies (Karachentseva
& Karachentsev 1998). This survey covers all known nearby galaxy groups within
the Local Volume (i.e. within 10 Mpc) and their environment, that is about 25%
of the total sky. A total of 257 galaxies have been observed with a detection
rate of 60%. We searched a frequency band corresponding to heliocentric radial
velocities from -470 km/s to about +4000 km/s. Non-detections are either due to
limited coverage in radial velocity, confusion with Local HI (mainly in the
velocity range -140 km/s to +20 km/s, or lack of sensitivity for very weak
emission. 25% of the detected galaxies are located within the Local Volume.
Those galaxies are dwarf galaxies judged by their optical linear diameter (1.4
+/- 0.2 kpc on the average), their mean total HI mass (4.6 E7 solar masses),
and their observed linewidths (39 km/s).
