A direct sequence spread spectrum receiver for receiving a plurality of signals from respective transmitters (S1, S2, S3, S4), said receiver comprising: an RF/IF section for receiving at least one of said signals; a converter comprised in said RF/IF section for producing a digital sample segment of said one signal; a memory coupled to said converter for storing said digital sample segment; a replica signal generator for producing a plurality of replica representations; a parallel correlator (36, 1000) coupled to said memory and said replica signal generator for correlating said digital sample segment and one of said replica representations to produce a cross correlation result, whereby said correlator (36, 1000) simultaneously correlates corresponding elements of said digital sample segment and said one of said replica representations, said correlator (36, 1000) comprising an array of multipliers (1..N) for multiplying said digital sample segment and said replica representations and a summer, whereby said array of multipliers (1..N) simultaneously produces multiplier results and said summer simultaneously adds said multiplier results to form a processing result; and means for generating a signal acquired command in response to said result whereby, said correlator correlates said digital sample segment with others of said replica representations until said signal acquired command is generated; characterised by: control means coupled to said memory and said RF/IF section, said control means being adapted to turn off said RF/IF section once said memory has stored a length of digital sample segment sufficient for signal acquisition. an RF/IF section for receiving at least one of said signals; a converter comprised in said RF/IF section for producing a digital sample segment of said one signal; a memory coupled to said converter for storing said digital sample segment; a replica signal generator for producing a plurality of replica representations; a parallel correlator (36, 1000) coupled to said memory and said replica signal generator for correlating said digital sample segment and one of said replica representations to produce a cross correlation result, whereby said correlator (36, 1000) simultaneously correlates corresponding elements of said digital sample segment and said one of said replica representations, said correlator (36, 1000) comprising an array of multipliers (1..N) for multiplying said digital sample segment and said replica representations and a summer, whereby said array of multipliers (1..N) simultaneously produces multiplier results and said summer simultaneously adds said multiplier results to form a processing result; and means for generating a signal acquired command in response to said result whereby, said correlator correlates said digital sample segment with others of said replica representations until said signal acquired command is generated; characterised by: control means coupled to said memory and said RF/IF section, said control means being adapted to turn off said RF/IF section once said memory has stored a length of digital sample segment sufficient for signal acquisition. control means coupled to said memory and said RF/IF section, said control means being adapted to turn off said RF/IF section once said memory has stored a length of digital sample segment sufficient for signal acquisition.