1. In an integrated circuit wireless communication device, a method for Viterbi decoding comprising: receiving a transmitted signal over a channel substantially characterized by a scalar gain value and a noise value; processing the gain value and noise value to determine a branch metric by determining a log of the scalar gain value and subtracting therefrom a log of the noise value and subtracting therefrom the log of a first constant to form a first sum, and determining an antilog of the first sum and subtracting therefrom a second constant to form a second sum, the second sum corresponding to the branch metric; and providing the branch metric to a Viterbi decoder.