Method and apparatus for receiving signals in gateways for satellite repeater type spread spectrum communication systems making more efficient use of data transfer capacity and diversity processing. Several communication signals are received by multiple analog receivers and converted into digital format. The digital communication signals are transferred from each analog receiver into a series of demodulation or FHT modules in which they are first despread into encoded data symbols using predetermined PN coding sequences, and then mapped into symbol energy metrics using orthogonal transformers, such as fast Hadamard transformers. The transformation output for each communication channel from each analog receiver is input to a single metric receiver for a data channel or subscriber, where it is subjected to conventional metric signal processing to reconstruct the data. A set of dedicated modules is coupled to each analog receiver for handling each diversity path or subscriber active communication system channel being transferred through that receiver or analog path. Each demodulation or FHT module comprises despreading elements and FHT components that are easily distributed in processing arrays within the gateway.