An approach for encoding a physical layer (PL) header of a PL data frame is provided. The PL header comprises sixteen information bits u i , ( i = 0,1, 2, ... ,15), and the encoding is based on a convolutional code, whereby, for each information bit, five associated parity bits p i,k , ( k = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4) are generated, resulting in 80 codebits. The resulting 80 codebits are punctured to form a (16,77) codeword ( c 0 , c 1 , c 2 , ..., c 76 ). The codebits of the (16,77) codeword are repeated to generate a (16,154) physical layer signaling codeword ( c 0 , c 0 , c 1 , c 1 , c 2 , c 2 , ... , c 76 , c 76 ) for transmission of the PL data frame over a channel of a communications network. Further, for each information bit, each of the associated five parity bits is generated based on a parity bit generator, as follows: p i,k = ( u i * g k, 0 ) ⊕ ( S 0 * g k , 1 )⊕( S 1 * g k , 2 )⊕( S 2 * g k , 3 )⊕( S 3 * g k ,4 )⊕, where S 0 = u i -1 , S 1 = u i -2 , S 2 = u i -3 , S 3 = u i- 4 , and wherein generator polynomials for g k = ( g k ,0, g k ,1, g k ,2, g k ,3, g k ,4, ), are as follows: g 0 = (1,0,1,0,1); g 1 = (1,0,1,1,1); g 2 = (1,1,0,1,1); g 3 = (1,1,1,1,1); g 4 = (1,1,0,0,1).