A method and apparatus are provided that measures received radio communications signals to determine whether or what degree to use transmit diversity and beam forming. In one embodiment, the invention includes receiving a radio signal from a remote terminal at a plurality of antennas, comparing characteristics of the received signal as received at the plurality of antennas, determining whether reception of radio signals transmitted to the remote terminal is likely to be improved by diversity transmission based on the comparisons and transmitting radio signals to the remote terminal using diversity if the reception is likely to be improved.