Certain embodiments described herein enable a base station (BS) and a medical device (MD) to establish a radio frequency (RF) link using any one of a plurality of different RF channels. The MD sniffs the RF channels over which a BS may send a link request, and tunes to the RF channel identified, as a result of the sniffing, as the channel over which a BS may be transmitting a link request. The MD may also demodulate a signal received over the RF channel to which the MD is tuned, and determine, based on a portion of the demodulated signal including a channel identifier, a specific one of the RF channels over which a BS is actually transmitting. This enables the MD to change the channel to which it is tuned if it determines that it is not tuned to the RF channel over which a BS is actually transmitting.