a method and apparatus for quickly acquiring synchronization of a signal in a wcdma communication system utilizing variable duration sample accumulation , validity testing of decoder estimates , and parallel decoding of multiple synchronization signals within a perch channel . the receiver accumulates the samples necessary to reliably determine slot timing . until slot timing estimates pass a validity test , samples are accumulated for frame timing estimates . until frame timing estimates pass a validity test , samples are analyzed to determine the pilot offset of the channel .