A mobile station measures a pseudonoise (PN) offset and a signal strength of a spread spectrum signal transmitted by a given sector of a spread spectrum communication system. The measured PN offset differs from a nominal PN offset of the given sector. The mobile station transmits a measurement message that includes the measured PN offset and the measured signal strength. The spread spectrum communication system receives the measurement message and determines a location associated with the mobile station (e.g., based on location coordinates included in the measurement message). The spread spectrum communication system determines the nominal PN offset of the given sector based on the measured PN offset and the location associated with the mobile station. If the given sector is a valid handoff destination, the spread spectrum communication system transmits to the mobile station a handoff instruction that identifies the given sector by the measured PN offset.