A radio receiver for a wireless communications system comprising: channel equalisation means arranged to receive samples of an incoming signal and to generate an equalised output, said channel equalisation means comprising means for processing said digital samples in accordance with an equaliser algorithm; a rake receiver; means for estimating parameters of a channel over which the incoming signal has been transmitted, the estimated channel parameters being selected from a group comprising: a parameter representing the degree of non-stationarity of the channel, a parameter providing an estimate of channel length or channel delay spread, a parameter representing location of channel zeros in the z plane, a parameter representing signal-to-disturbance ratios of the estimated channel, and a parameter representing the degree of non-stationarity of input disturbance on the channel the means for estimating are adapted such that a parameter from the group of parameters is estimated and that the estimated parameter is compared to a threshold wherein depending on the comparison result the rake receiver for processing the received signal is selected or the estimation and comparison processing is repeated with a further parameter of the group; and means for selecting from a plurality of equaliser algorithms an equaliser algorithm for execution by the processing means based on at least one said estimated channel parameter when the rake receiver was not selected after all parameters of the group have been estimated. channel equalisation means arranged to receive samples of an incoming signal and to generate an equalised output, said channel equalisation means comprising means for processing said digital samples in accordance with an equaliser algorithm; a rake receiver; means for estimating parameters of a channel over which the incoming signal has been transmitted, the estimated channel parameters being selected from a group comprising: a parameter representing the degree of non-stationarity of the channel, a parameter providing an estimate of channel length or channel delay spread, a parameter representing location of channel zeros in the z plane, a parameter representing signal-to-disturbance ratios of the estimated channel, and a parameter representing the degree of non-stationarity of input disturbance on the channel a parameter representing the degree of non-stationarity of the channel, a parameter providing an estimate of channel length or channel delay spread, a parameter representing location of channel zeros in the z plane, a parameter representing signal-to-disturbance ratios of the estimated channel, and a parameter representing the degree of non-stationarity of input disturbance on the channel the means for estimating are adapted such that a parameter from the group of parameters is estimated and that the estimated parameter is compared to a threshold wherein depending on the comparison result the rake receiver for processing the received signal is selected or the estimation and comparison processing is repeated with a further parameter of the group; and means for selecting from a plurality of equaliser algorithms an equaliser algorithm for execution by the processing means based on at least one said estimated channel parameter when the rake receiver was not selected after all parameters of the group have been estimated.