Field Guide · term

Also known as: TDMA

TDMA (time-division multiple access) splits one frequency into rapid, repeating timeslots, so two or more calls share the channel by taking turns.1

time → 121212 one frequency, two calls share the slots
TDMA splits one frequency into time slots so several calls share it — used by P25 Phase 2 and DMR.

How it works

P25 Phase 2 and DMR use two slots, doubling capacity per channel; TETRA uses four. A receiver must follow the correct slot as well as the frequency.

Relevance to SDR

On a TDMA system a single granted voice channel can carry two simultaneous calls, so GopherTrunk decodes the relevant slot of the assigned channel.

Sources

  1. Time-division multiple access — Wikipedia, on sharing one frequency via repeating timeslots. ↩

See also

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