Outer loop/weighted open loop power control method controls transmission power levels in a spread spectrum time division duplex communication base station. The base station receives a communication including a transmitted power level and measures its received power level. Based in part on the measured power level and the transmitted power level, a path loss estimate is determined. A quality of the path loss estimate is also determined. The transmission power level for a communication from the base station is based in part on weighting the path loss estimate in response to the estimate's quality.