A direct sequence spread spectrum receiver and method for acquiring radio-frequency signals is provided for acquiring data from signals which have been transmitted in a spread spectrum system. The receiver is capable of receiving short data bursts from transmitters without prior knowledge of the time or location of the transmission and rapidly acquiring the signal before continuing with reliable data demodulation. The system includes one or more antennae for receiving RF signals which may be selectively connected to provide the received signals to the system for processing, a quadrature demodulator for providing I and Q baseband signals to a digital baseband processor which includes A/D converters, dual correlators for despreading the digital I and Q signals, a cartesian to polar converter, a demodulator for demodulating the polar coordinate digital I and Q signals, and a data descrambler for obtaining a serial data stream which may be provided to a serial interface.