


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.

In telecommunication, the term repeater has the following standardized meanings:




A digipeater is a blend meaning "digital repeater", particularly used in amateur radio. Store and forward digipeaters generally receive a packet radio transmission and then retransmit it on the same frequency, unlike repeaters that receive on one and transmit on another frequency.


Repeaters are often used in trans-continental and submarine communications cables, because the attenuation (signal loss) over such distances would be unacceptable without them. Repeaters are used in both copper-wire cables carrying electrical signals, and in fibre optics carrying light.

Repeaters are used in radio communication services. Radio repeaters often transmit and receive on different frequencies. A special subgroup of those repeaters is those used in amateur radio.

Repeaters are also used extensively in broadcasting, where they are known as translators, boosters or TV relay transmitters.

When providing a point-to-point telecom link using radio beyond line of sight, one uses repeaters in a microwave radio relay. A reflector, often on a mountaintop, that relays such signals around an obstacle, is called a passive repeater or Passive Radio Link Deflection. A microwave repeater in a communications satellite is called a transponder.

In optical communications the term repeater is used to describe a piece of equipment that receives an optical signal, converts that signal into an electrical one, regenerates it, and then retransmits an optical signal. Since such a device converts the optical signal into an electrical one, and then back to an optical signal, they are often known as Optical-Electrical-Optical (OEO) repeaters.


See also

Repeater lists


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