A chunk of branch metric computation bits is generated including bits that correspond to transition bits of a possible chunk of transition bits that could have been generated by a state transition of a convolutional encoder of a transmitter. The bits of the chunk of branch metric computation bits are scrambled. A branch metric for the received chunk of soft scrambled code bits is calculated as a function of the scrambled bits of the chunk of branch metric computation bits and the soft scrambled code bits of the received chunk of soft scrambled code bits. The branch metric is indicative of the probability that the received chunk of soft scrambled code bits was originally generated by the convolutional encoder as the chunk of transition bits corresponding to the generated chunk of branch metric computation bits.