A method of estimating the operating characteristics of a communication unit in a radio network in which a plurality of such communication units can communicate with a plurality of terminals by means of wireless signals and in which the terminals and the communication units are capable of macro-diversity communication whereby a terminal may simultaneously communicate with a plurality of the communication units, the method comprising: estimating for the communication unit and neighboring communication units the propagation characteristics of signals to and/or from each such communication unit, in a manner specific to that respective communication unit; determining based on at least the estimated propagation characteristics and the relative locations of the communication unit and the neighboring communication units a representation of at least one of the macro-diversity gain for the communication unit and the fading margin for the communication unit.