Simulcast

[edit] Simulcast

Refers to the process of transmitting the same signal from multiple sites on the same frequency at the same time.

For public safety communications, this typically means multiple towers configured to transmit the exact same communications, on the exact same frequencies, at precisely the same time, resulting in much better coverage of a wide area or area with dense population/buildings. Such systems must use some form of very precise timing to synchronize their multiple transmitters, or interference can result from mis-timed signals destructively mixing in a subscriber radio's receiver.

Simulcast is not analagous to multiple site wide area networked trunking systems that use different frequencies at each site, however simulcast "cells" (several sites operating as one in a simulcast configuration) can be implemented in such systems.