A radio communication system for duplex communication comprising an optical carrier generator for generating optical carrier signals, a local oscillator (LO) for generating an electrical signal in a radio communication band, an information signal source, electro-optic modulators driven directly at an input electrical port by said information signal and said LO signal to modulate a portion of said optical carrier signal to form a modulated portion being an optical band information signal for transmission over an optical link; and a photodetector remote from said electro-optic modulators for receiving said transmitted optical band information signal from said optical link, and directly generating an electrical signal that is up-converted for radio transmission, or down-converted to a baseband frequency.