The invention provides a method of conformance testing of a secondary station for use in a radio communication system which permits a soft handover process in which the secondary station engages in communication with a plurality of primary stations. The method permits testing the response of the secondary station to power control commands received simultaneously from each of the plurality of primary stations instructing it to adjust its output transmission power. In particular, the method enables testing the secondary station's assessment of the reliability of the power control commands received from each primary station, which has not been possible previously.The test is performed by transmitting known sequences of power control commands to the secondary station from each of the primary stations, then comparing the actual pattern of changes in output transmission power with the expected pattern of changes.