A communication device determines a physical layer (PHY) transmission mode for transmitting a wakeup radio (WUR) packet. The communication device generates a first portion of the WUR packet, the first portion corresponding to a WLAN legacy PHY preamble and spanning a first frequency bandwidth. The communication device generates a second portion of the WUR packet, the second portion of the WUR packet spanning a second frequency bandwidth that is less than the first frequency bandwidth. The second portion of the WUR packet includes a PHY sync signal that corresponds to the selected PHY transmission mode, wherein the PHY sync signal is selected from a plurality of different PHY sync signals that respectively correspond to a plurality of different PHY transmission modes. The communication device generates a PHY data portion, within the second portion of the WUR packet, according to the selected transmission mode.