The problem was simple: the spare radio they’d grabbed from the depot had been programmed for a mine site in Western Australia—different frequencies, different trunking system, different everything. Their main radio had fried when someone accidentally keyed it up against a solar panel cable. And with the cyclone bearing down, they needed to reach the emergency services channel and their own team’s simplex frequency.
Leo Torres stared at the radio’s front panel from the passenger seat of the dusty land cruiser. Outside, the Australian outback stretched flat and cruel to a horizon that hadn't changed in a million years. His field team was spread over sixty kilometers of unsealed roads, and Cyclone Ellie had just decided to take a sharp left turn toward them. tait tm8115 programming software
Leo unplugged the cable, turned the volume knob, and keyed the microphone. “Field Base to all units. Radio check on channel 1. Copy?” The problem was simple: the spare radio they’d