Each frame of a pilot channel transmission in a spread spectrum communications system is divided into a plurality of synchronization slots. Each of the synchronization slots includes a pilot code, and at least one of the synchronization slots further includes a framing synchronization code. To extract frame and slot synchronization information from the pilot channel transmission, pilot code timing is first identified by applying a matched filter or correlation to a received pilot signal, identifying peaks, and using the peaks to find a timing reference indicative of synchronization slot boundaries. Next, the set of known framing synchronization codes are correlated with the received signal over the included found synchronization slots. Given that the location within the frame of the known framing synchronization code(s) is known, once a correlation match is found at a certain slot location, the boundary of the frame (i.e., the frame synchronization) relative thereto is then also known.