The invention describes an improved method for the preparation of rubber compounds which comprises compounding the rubber and the components at 125-200\xb0 C. Methods and apparatus are provided for physical random access channel resource signaling, PRACH resource handling, preamble and PRACH resource selection, random access response reception, preamble retransmission, and transmission and reception of subsequent messages. The key component of the inventive method is a thermal treatment for minutes to hours in the temperature range 1250-1330\xb0 C.