In telecommunication, the term repeater has the following meanings:

1. An analog device that amplifies an input signal regardless of its nature (analog or digital).
2. A digital device that amplifies, reshapes, retimes, or performs a combination of any of these functions on a digital input signal for retransmission.

A repeater is an electronic device that receives a weaker signal and retransmits it at a higher level, so that the signal can cover longer distances without degradation. The term "repeater" originated with telegraphy and referred to an electromechanical device used to regenerate telegraph signals. Use of the term has continued in telephony and data communications.

Table of contents

1 Telecom cables 2 Duplex radio 3 Broadcasting

Telecom cables

Duplex radio

Broadcasting

Translators which broadcast within or very near the parent station's coverage area on the same channel or frequency are called booster stations. However, this can be tricky because it is possible to have both stations interfering with each other unless they are carefully designed. Interference can also be avoided by using exact atomic time obtained from GPS satellites to perfectly synchronise co-channel stations, as in a single-frequency network (SFN).

Translator stations in the U.S. are given callsigns which begin with a W or K (respectively east or west of the Mississippi River, as with regular stations), followed by a channel number, and two serial letterss for each channel. Television channels are always two-digit, from 02 to 69, while FM radio channels are from 201 (88.1MHz) to 300 (107.9MHz), one every 0.2MHz. (Example: W42BD, K263AF.) FM booster stations are given the full callsign of the parent station, plus a serial number, such as WXYZ-FM1, WXYZ-FM2, etc. In Canada and Mexico, all translator and booster stations are given the callsign of the parent station plus a serial number, such as XHABC and XHABC1, XHABC2, or CFON and CFON1, CFON2, etc.