<p>A user equipment UE sends in a first message on a random access channel at least one instance of a cyclic prefix CP and a configurable number of N instances of a sequence (N>1); then searches for a second message that replies to the first in a window defined by the first message and implicitly linked to the number N used in the first message. N can be configured by the UE based on its estimate of coverage improvement, and/or by the network and signaled via broadcast SIB/MIB. In one embodiment the first message has one CP and N sequences; in another the CP and sequence are placed in each of N transmission time intervals TTIs. Transmission of the first message begins in a TTI that is a function of a) a system frame number and the number N; and/or b) a time and frequency radio resource based on the number N.</p>
