A communications method for a vehicle consist (10) comprising a lead (14) and a remote (12A/12B/12C) powered vehicle, the lead (14) vehicle comprising first (29A) and second (29B) antennas each associated with a radio, and the remote vehicle (12A/12B/12C) comprising third (29A) and fourth (29B) antennas each associated with a radio. The method comprises transmitting an outbound message from the lead (14) vehicle, receiving the outbound message at the third antenna (29A) and supplying a signal to the associated radio for producing a first received signal, and receiving the outbound message at the fourth antenna (29B) and supplying a signal to the associated radio for producing a second received signal, determining a first and second signal quality metric for the respective first and second received signals, selecting the first or second received signal for processing by the remote vehicle (12A/12B/12C) in response to the first and second signal quality metrics.