An analytical method is developed to calculate the blocking probability (p/sub b/), the probability of handoff failure (p/sub h/), the forced termination probability (p/sub ft/), and the probability that a call is not completed (p/sub nc/) for the no priority (NPS) and reserved channel (RCS) schemes for handoff, using fixed channel allocation (FCA) in a microcellular system. Based only on the knowledge of the new call arrival rate, a method of assessing the handoff arrival rate for any kind of traffic is derived. The analytical method is valid for uniform and nonuniform traffic distributions and is verified by computer simulations. An extension (generalization) to the nonuniform compact pattern allocation algorithm is presented as an application of this analysis. Based on this extended concept, a modified version of a dynamic channel allocation strategy (DCA) called compact pattern with maximized channel borrowing (CPMCB) is presented. With modifications, it is shown that CPMCB is a self-adaptive prioritized handoff DCA strategy with enhanced performance that can be exploited in a personal communications service (PCS) environment leading either to a reduction in infrastructure or to an increase in capacity and grade of service. The effect of user mobility on the grade of service is also considered using CPMCB.