a user equipment for establishing a communication link comprising a first module for processing a received communication signal and generating an index value associated with a primary synchronization code within said communication signal ; a second module for generating a scrambling code group number , a slot offset , and secondary synchronization code based on output provided by the first module ; a third module for retrieving a primary scrambling code based on the scrambling code group number and slot offset ; and a controller coupled to said first module , second module , and third module for controlling an a search frequency of the ue for establishing a communication link .