Techniques for reducing the number of bits needed to specify the best precoding vector for each mobile station in a wireless communication network that employs multi-point transmission are disclosed. An exemplary method begins with the estimation of path loss between a mobile station and each of a plurality of geographically separated transmitter sites, each transmitter site having at least one transmitter antenna. Based on the estimated path losses, one of a plurality of pre-determined subsets (codebooks) of a pre-determined set of antenna precoding vectors is selected. A group index identifying the selected subset is then transmitted to the mobile station. Subsequently, a vector index is received from the mobile station, the vector index corresponding to a precoding vector in the selected subset, and data is transmitted to the mobile station, using the precoding vector applied to the transmitter antennas at the plurality of transmitter sites.