Enhanced reception in a communication system is achieved by performing radio synchronization (SYNC) detection after multipath signal components are combined via a Rake combiner. In a communication system comprising a transmitter and a receiver, plural multipath signal components of a signal transmitted by the transmitter are received by the receiver. The plural multipath signal components are correlated with a known spreading code (e.g. a PN code). The correlated multipath signals are analyzed to identify plural correlation peaks and those correlation peaks that exceed a multipath threshold are selected. The selected correlation peaks are combined (i.e., coherently combined) to produce a combined signal. A synchronization event is declared when the combined signal exceeds an adjusted synchronization threshold and the combined signal is then decoded.