A receiver for use in a spread spectrum communication system includes the following components: an acquisition system configured to detect a transmitted spread spectrum signal by simultaneously correlating multiple search phases of a reference spreading signal against an output from a receiver channel; a demodulation system configured to recover data embedded in the spread spectrum signal by simultaneously correlating the spread spectrum signal with multiple possible data phases of the reference spreading signal over consecutive data periods; and a bank of correlating devices configured for use both in the acquisition system and in the demodulation system.