Abstract: A passive handoff cellular communication system includes a cell divided into a plurality of zones. A base station is connected by transmission apparatus to a plurality of antenna units. The base station includes analog RF signal generation circuitry for generating a plurality of RF signals on different channels and a first switch responsive to a first control signal for switching and combining the RF signals to form a composite RF signal for each zone. Analog-to-digital conversion circuitry converts the composite signal for each zone to a digitized stream of samples and applies the samples to the transmission apparatus for transmission to each corresponding antenna unit.