Methods and receiver circuits are provided for correlating an incoming signal with PN codes. An embodiment of the method includes receiving I/Q baseband samples in the I/Q domain; converting the I/Q baseband samples to phase baseband samples; generating a pseudonoise (PN) code; converting the PN code to PN phase data; performing a correlation on the phase baseband samples using the PN phase data to generate correlated I/Q values; performing an adding operation on the correlated I/Q values to generate demodulated I/Q values; converting the demodulated I/Q values into demodulated phase values; performing a frequency correction operation on the demodulated phase values to generate frequency correction data; converting the demodulated I/Q values into demodulated magnitude values; and performing signal decoding and synchronization on the magnitude values to generate output data. The operation of performing correlation on the phase baseband samples using the PN phase data is accomplished using scalar subtraction.