In a time division multiple access (TDMA) radiotelephone communications system, a spread spectrum random access channel signal representing a random access message is communicated from a radiotelephone to a central station according to a spreading sequence. In response, a TDMA radiotelephone communications channel is assigned to the radiotelephone. A time division multiplexed radiotelephone communications signal is communicated between the radiotelephone and the central station on the assigned TDMA radiotelephone communications channel over a time division multiplexed carrier frequency band. Preferably, in communicating the spread spectrum random access channel signal, a random access channel signal, representing the random access channel message, is direct sequence modulated according to the spreading sequence to produce a direct sequence modulated random access channel signal. According to a two-stage detection aspect, a synchronization sequence may be associated with a plurality of spreading sequences. The synchronization sequence may be first detected from the communicated spread spectrum random access channel signal, and in response to detection of the synchronization sequence, one of the plurality of spreading sequences associated with the detected synchronization sequence may be detected. A station identification may be assigned to the radiotelephone, with the station identification preferably represented by a digital station identification word. The synchronization sequence and the spreading sequence may be identified from the station identification word, thus associating the synchronization and spreading sequences. The spreading sequence may also be randomly generated from the station identification word.