A target modulation is detected in a signal, e.g., a radio signal received by a device such as a mobile communications terminal. Respective target modulation correlations for respective carrier timing hypotheses are determined by demodulating signal values corresponding to the signal for the respective carrier timing hypotheses using a common carrier demodulation template and detecting the target modulation from the target modulation correlations. The target modulation may be, for example, a pseudonoise (PN) code, such as a GPS code or a CDMA communications system code, and the carrier timing hypotheses may correspond to various potential Doppler shifts.