Maybe... it just depends on the type of radio that they are using. I know that it is a police radio model I just don't recall the if the model was mentioned. Glen listed of a bunch, but those were the radios that were in his shack at the colony. The net they have now is one that was originally set up by someone at pre-fall Dunbar.
If the cop radios are anything like some encryption capable radios I'm aware of, you can assign preset frequencies to "channels" on the radio and in crypro mode, the different channels can share the same key or use different crypto keys.
Here's the thing: if you have a radio that hasn't been "filled" with crypto, you obviously can't receive encrypted transitions but those running crypto won't be able to hear you either. That is something that would probably be noticed rather quickly by the team at the hospital.
I think it is likely that the network that has been set up is probably using portable repeaters. Stands to reason that in the rain, the solar panel might not be operating at peak efficiency. It's been cloudy and rainy in LA for about two days now I think, those portable repeaters (or any solar powered static repeaters) have probably depleted their reserve batteries by now. However, I seem to recall that Kc said something to the effect of "it's not (just) the rain," but I could be imagining that.
Hmmm... Brainstorm time:
ULF are known to be occasionally generated as a precursor to earthquakes. Now known to occur as much as a month prior to the quake. (How long and how often have the radios been on the blink?) But you might ask, seismological ULF is in the 300 Hz to 3 KHz range, how does that interfere with the 39-45 MHz and 150-160 MHz bands? It doesn't necessarily need to match up if it is powerful enough. Especially if it is seismological ULF as a precursor to The Big One.
I think some acoustic principles like string resonance have similar principles in radio as well.
Also, (more I think) radio frequencies can interfere with each other if one frequency is divisible by another and they synchronize. The result is some peaks are canceled while others are amplified (a similar result is seen in the double slit experiment.)
Huh. Once again I thought I didn't have much to say... except for feeling a little bad now, having bashed on formic acid a little bit during the first Fan Cast.
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