AN ASTRA 1125 FLC TAKES THEIR ACFT ONTO THE RWY ON A ROLLING TKOF WITHOUT BENEFIT OF TWR CLRNC AT CVG; OH.

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WE RECEIVED CLRNC TO TAXI TO CVG RWY 18R; HOLD SHORT OF RWY 27; CROSS RWY 27 HOLD SHORT OF A TXWY FOR AN RJ TO PASS AND CONTINUE TO RWY 18R. WE COMPLETED OUR TAXI CHKS AND WERE FOURTH IN LINE FOR TKOF WHEN WE STARTED TO MONITOR TWR. THE PF AND I DISCUSSED THE WX IN THE DEP COURSE AND POSSIBLE DEVS REQUIRED. AN AIRLINE JET TOOK OFF AND WE MOVED UP AND HELD SHORT OF RWY 18R. WE COULD SEE LNDG TFC ON THE TCASII AND VISUALLY WHILE WAITING TKOF CLRNC. THE PF AND MYSELF HEARD US BE CLRED FOR TKOF AND I READ BACK THE CLRNC; CHKING AND CONFIRMING FINAL FOR TFC SPACING WHICH APPEARED TO BE ADEQUATE. WE COMPLETED THE LINEUP CHKLIST AND STARTED TKOF. THE TWR CALLED FOR US TO ABORT AT A LOW SPD. WE COMPLIED AND EXITED THE RWY. AN ACFT LNDG RWY 18R EXECUTED A GAR. TWR THEN ISSUED A CLRNC TO TAXI BACK TO RWY 18R ON THEIR FREQ. WE HAD NO INDICATION THAT WE MIGHT HAVE MADE A MISTAKE. NO MENTION OF ERROR FROM TWR FOR ANYONE TO CALL THE SUPVR. MY EXPERIENCE AT CVG GARS ARE FAIRLY NORMAL DUE TO THE AMOUNT OF TFC AND SPACING OF TFC. WE COMPLETED ANOTHER BEFORE TKOF CHKLIST AND LINEUP CHKLIST. ANOTHER ACFT LANDED AND TWR CLRED US INTO POS AND HOLD. TWR THEN CLRED US FOR TKOF. THE TKOF WENT NORMALLY. ONCE WE REACHED CRUISE; WE DISCUSSED WHAT HAPPENED. I CONTACTED CVG TWR VIA THE FLT PHONE (POOR CONNECTIONS; LOTS OF STATIC -- IT TOOK SEVERAL CALLS) TALKING WITH BOTH THE CTLRS. THEY INFORMED ME THAT A PLTDEV HAD BEEN FILED ON US. THE PF AND I ARE STILL CERTAIN THAT THE TKOF CLRNC WAS ISSUED TO US. CVG TWR ALSO SAID THAT THEY WERE HANDLING 3 ACFT -- ALL ENDING WITH NXXXXG. THEIR REVIEW OF THE TAPES HAD NO RECORD OF TKOF CLRNC BEING ISSUED TO US; HOWEVER; THERE WAS A GARBLED XMISSION BEFORE WE LINED UP ON THE RWY WHICH MOST LIKELY WAS OUR READBACK OF THE TKOF CLRNC. IF THE XMISSION HAD NOT BEEN BLOCKED; TWR SHOULD HAVE HEARD US UNLESS TWR WAS XMITTING AT THE SAME TIME. THERE WAS NO LOSS OF SEPARATION WITH RWY 27 (INTERSECTS RWY 18R). AFTER TALKING WITH CVG TWR; I CONTACTED OUR CHIEF PLT TO INFORM HIM THAT A PLTDEV WAS FILED THROUGH LOUISVILLE AND ATLANTA. I TOLD HIM OUR IMPRESSIONS AND DISBELIEF OF BOTH OF US HEARING THE WRONG CLRNC. WE WERE EXPECTING TKOF CLRNC AND WHEN WE RECEIVED WHAT WE BOTH HEARD WAS THAT CLRNC WE CONTINUED WITH OUR TKOF FLOWS AND CHKS. AS A STANDARD PRACTICE IF ONE OF THE FLC IS IN DOUBT ABOUT A CLRNC WE ALWAYS CONFIRM WITH THE CTLR. NEITHER OF US WERE IN DOUBT OF BEING CLRED FOR TKOF. HAVING SO MANY SIMILAR SOUNDING N-NUMBERS IS CONFUSING FOR CTLRS AS WELL AS PLTS. POSSIBLY WE MISTOOK THE ACFT DEPARTING RWY 27 READBACK OF THEIR TKOF CLRNC AND OUR OWN TKOF CLRNC. I DO NOT KNOW WHY MY READBACK OF 'NXXXXG CLRED FOR TKOF RWY 18R' WAS NOT HEARD. WHEN I CHKED TO MAKE SURE FINAL WAS CLR; THERE APPEARED TO BE ENOUGH SEPARATION. WHAT I DID NOT KNOW IS THE ACFT ON FINAL WAS A GULFSTREAM AND NOT AN MD80 I THOUGHT I SAW. IF MY READBACK OF OUR TKOF CLRNC WAS COVERED BY TWR; OR ANOTHER ACFT; TWR MIGHT NOT HAVE HEARD ME. ALTHOUGH; WHILE WAITING TO TAKE OFF; TWR FREQ WAS BLOCKED AT LEAST ONCE WITH ANOTHER PLT COMING ON SAYING 'BLOCKED;' NOTHING WAS SAID AFTER WE TOOK THE RWY. WE EXPERIENCED A MAJOR BREAKDOWN OF COM OF WHICH WE WERE UNAWARE UNTIL CONTACTING CVG TWR FROM THE AIR. WE BOTH UNDERSTOOD WE WERE CLRED FOR TKOF. IT IS DISTURBING TO THINK THAT WE COULD SIMULTANEOUSLY HEAR AND INTERPRET THE SAME INFO IN ERROR. GIVEN THE AMOUNT OF TFC AT MANY ARPTS SUCH AS CVG; AND THE INHERENT LIMITATIONS OF RADIO COMS; I WOULD LIKE TO SEE ADDITIONAL LIGHTING AT THE HOLD AREA: RED = HOLD/HOLD SHORT AND GREEN = PROCEED. I DON'T KNOW IF IT WOULD HELP MUCH; BUT IF AIR TFC IS GOING TO INCREASE AS PREDICTED; ADDITIONAL SYS MIGHT BE NECESSARY TO PREVENT DECREASES IN SAFETY. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 473111: WE WERE HOLDING SHORT OF RWY 18R WHEN WE GOT THE CLRNC TO TAKE OFF RWY 18R. BOTH OF US ACTED INDEPENDENTLY TO THE CLRNC. I PULLED OFF THE PARKING BRAKE AND STARTED MOVING INTO POS. THE PNF READ BACK THE CLRNC 'ASTRA NXXXXG CLRED TO TKOF RWY 18R.' THE ACFT LNDG ON RWY 18R ANNOUNCED HE WAS GOING AROUND.