The present invention provides a method for carrier detection associated with the receipt of MIMO RF packet communications. This involves receiving multiple MIMO RF packet communications with multiple receiver pathways, wherein the RF packet communications each comprise a preamble and data. The RF packet communications are sampled by a carrier detector before, during or after conversion to baseband. The carrier detectors are used to produce a set of carrier detection metrics for each reception pathway. These carrier detection metrics may be combined arithmetically with those of other reception pathways to produce a multi-reception pathway carrier detect. Alternatively, these carrier detection metrics can be processed to produce a logical decision or binary detection signal value associated with each reception pathway, which is then logically combined with the logical decisions of other reception pathways to produce a multi-reception pathway carrier detect.