A method for maximizing intermodulation interference protection during a handoff between radio cell sites (300) includes scanning a plurality of radio channels (302) and measuring the signal power (307, 315) for at least one of the radio channels. One or more receiver attenuators (313) are then set based on the detection of intermodulation (IM) interference of the measured channel. The attenuators are then scaled (311) based on the degree of IM interference. If the attenuators cannot mitigate this interference below some predetermined level, the radio channel is changed (321) and the process begins again to ensure a high quality of communication with a cell site.