A method and apparatus are provided for scheduling a transmission of uplink sounding signals for a mobile station (MS). The method comprises receiving a request to send the MS downlink signals associated with a service flow at a first frame, searching a scheduling database for pending uplink bandwidth requests from the MS, scheduling uplink transmission slots for the MS to transmit uplink signals in a second frame without scheduling a sounding signal when a uplink bandwidth request associated with the MS is present in the scheduling database, computing beamforming weighting vectors for the MS using the uplink signals, and transmitting the downlink signals using the beamforming weighting vectors at a third frame subsequent the first frame.