Method and apparatus for integration of a wireless communication system with a cable television system

An apparatus for providing a communication coverage areas throughout a communication system comprising a cable television plant comprising:

• a series of radio antenna devices (RADs) spaced along a cable each of said series of RADs having a cable input and a cable output and a wireless input and a wireless output, wherein each of said series of RADs receives input forward link communication signals and a RAD reference signal from said cable through said cable input and provides output forward link communication signals through said wireless output and receives input reverse link communication signals through said wireless input and provides output reverse link communication signal and upstream gain reference signal through said cable output;
• and
• a headend processor coupled to said cable having a base station, said base station having a set of demodulation elements programmably coupled to at least one of a plurality of said series of RADs;
• wherein said RAD reference signal has an absolute value dependent upon a loss between said headend processor and each one of said series of RADs and wherein each one of said series of RADs uses said absolute value of said RAD reference signal to set a power level of said output forward link communication signals.