A system (500, 1200, 3400) for providing a communication service to user terminals geographically distributed over a user coverage area (519, 3460), comprising: a beam signal interface configured to obtain multiple forward beam signals comprising forward user data streams for transmission to the user terminals grouped by multiple forward user beam coverage areas; a beam weight generator (910, 917) configured to generate a forward beam weight matrix for end-to-end beamforming to the multiple forward user beam coverage areas; a beamformer (513, 529) coupled with the beam signal interface and the beam weight generator, the beamformer comprising a forward matrix multiplier configured to obtain a plurality of access-node specific forward signals based on a matrix product of the forward beam weight matrix and a vector of the forward beam signals; a plurality of access nodes geographically distributed within an access node area, wherein the plurality of access nodes comprise transmitters configured to transmit respective forward uplink signals (521, 6340, 6440, 6540) over a feeder uplink frequency range based on respective ones of the plurality of access node-specific forward signals, and wherein the plurality of access nodes comprise receivers configured to receive return downlink signals (527, 6355, 6455, 6555) over a feeder downlink frequency range; access node beacon generators configured to generate respective access node beacon signals for transmission from the plurality of access nodes in the feeder uplink frequency range; an end-to-end relay (503, 1202, 3403) comprising multiple receive/transmit signal paths (1702, 2001, 6000, 6100, 6600) configured to receive forward composite uplink signals at inputs of the multiple receive/transmit signal paths and transmit forward downlink signals (522, 6345, 6445, 6545) from outputs of the multiple receive/transmit signal paths over a user downlink frequency range that is non-overlapping with the feeder downlink frequency range, wherein each of the forward composite uplink signals is a superposition of at least a subset of the forward uplink signals, and wherein the end-to-end relay comprises a loopback signal path configured to relay the access node beacon signals in the feeder downlink frequency range; and transmit timing and phase compensators configured to pre-correct the respective forward uplink signals to compensate for respective path delays and phase shifts introduced between the plurality of access nodes and the end-to-end relay based at least in part on the relayed access node beacon signals. a beam signal interface configured to obtain multiple forward beam signals comprising forward user data streams for transmission to the user terminals grouped by multiple forward user beam coverage areas; a beam weight generator (910, 917) configured to generate a forward beam weight matrix for end-to-end beamforming to the multiple forward user beam coverage areas; a beamformer (513, 529) coupled with the beam signal interface and the beam weight generator, the beamformer comprising a forward matrix multiplier configured to obtain a plurality of access-node specific forward signals based on a matrix product of the forward beam weight matrix and a vector of the forward beam signals; a plurality of access nodes geographically distributed within an access node area, wherein the plurality of access nodes comprise transmitters configured to transmit respective forward uplink signals (521, 6340, 6440, 6540) over a feeder uplink frequency range based on respective ones of the plurality of access node-specific forward signals, and wherein the plurality of access nodes comprise receivers configured to receive return downlink signals (527, 6355, 6455, 6555) over a feeder downlink frequency range; access node beacon generators configured to generate respective access node beacon signals for transmission from the plurality of access nodes in the feeder uplink frequency range; an end-to-end relay (503, 1202, 3403) comprising multiple receive/transmit signal paths (1702, 2001, 6000, 6100, 6600) configured to receive forward composite uplink signals at inputs of the multiple receive/transmit signal paths and transmit forward downlink signals (522, 6345, 6445, 6545) from outputs of the multiple receive/transmit signal paths over a user downlink frequency range that is non-overlapping with the feeder downlink frequency range, wherein each of the forward composite uplink signals is a superposition of at least a subset of the forward uplink signals, and wherein the end-to-end relay comprises a loopback signal path configured to relay the access node beacon signals in the feeder downlink frequency range; and transmit timing and phase compensators configured to pre-correct the respective forward uplink signals to compensate for respective path delays and phase shifts introduced between the plurality of access nodes and the end-to-end relay based at least in part on the relayed access node beacon signals.