a data transfer delay compensation system for a data communications system having a first transceiver and a second transceiver wherein the first transceiver includes circuitry for transferring an external cycle reference signal and a cycle delay signal to the second transceiver . the second transceiver includes circuitry for transmitting the received cycle reference back to the first transceiver a given time period after receipt of the cycle reference . the first transceiver receives the cycle reference transmitted from the second transceiver and measures a phase difference between the received cycle reference and the external cycle reference signal in order to update the cycle delay signal .