Abstract: A diversity combiner for use with the maximum likelihood sequence estimator is disclosed. First and second receive channels produce demodulated replicas Z.sub.1 (k) and Z.sub.2 (k) of the transmitted symbol data I(k). The two signals are processed in a Viterbi equalizer to obtain a single branch metric calculation based on the two signals Z.sub.1 (k) and Z.sub.2 (k) . The Viterbi equalizer provides an estimated value of I(k) based on this single branch metric calculation, which is used for channel estimator for both antennas.