Disclosed are devices and processes for processing portions of a downlink signal using multiple receive chains. In one implementation, while message traffic is received at two or more receive chains of a receiver device, an inactivity timing may be initiated following a most recent activity event at the receiver device. Responsive to a request to acquire a portion of a downlink signal at the receiver device following initiation of the inactivity timer, at least one of the two or more receive chains may be scheduled to acquire the portion of the downlink signal. Other, unscheduled receive chains may be transitioned to a lower power state upon expiration of the inactivity timer.