A network relay, a transmitter and methods of operating a network relay and transmitter. In one embodiment, the method of operating the network relay includes: (1) at a relay, receiving one or more symbols transmitted by a source in each of a first sequence of fundamental intervals, (2) from the relay, transmitting data extracted from the received ones of the symbols to a destination in each of a second sequence of fundamental intervals, the fundamental intervals of the first and second sequences interleaving to make a continuous period of time and (3) for each particular one of the fundamental intervals, selecting between performing the receiving and performing the transmitting based on one or more of the symbols received in an associated recent one of the fundamental intervals.