A method (70) of operating a wireless receiver (UST). The method receives a wireless communicated signal, wherein the signal comprises asymmetrically spaced synchronization channel components. The method also defines (72) a set of signals from the communicated signal, wherein the set spans a number of equal duration time slots and comprises at least a first synchronization channel component and a second synchronization channel component. The method also forms (76) a first signal combination by combining a first portion of the set of signals with a second portion of the set of signals, and it forms (78) a second signal combination by combining a third portion of the set of signals with a fourth portion of the set of signals. Finally, the method detects (80, 82, 84) a location of the first synchronization channel component and a location of the second synchronization channel component in response to at least one of the first and second signal combinations.