An adaptive antenna signal identification process to provide increased interference rejection in a wireless data network such as a wireless Local Area Network (LAN). The adaptive antenna is located at an access point and can be steered to various angle of arrival orientations with respect to received signals. Associated radio receiving equipment utilizes two distinct signal detection modes. In a first mode, the directional antenna array is set to have an omni-directional gain pattern. In this mode, certain identification parameters of an initial portion of a received signal are detected, such as a source identifier. If the received signal has not been previously detected, then the antenna array is scanned determine a direction setting that provides a best received signal metric. Once the best directional setting for the received signal, that setting is saved for future use in receiving the same signal. If the received signal has been previously detected, the system instead will steer the directional antenna to the last known best direction for reception for the particular detected signal. As further portions of the same signal are received, such as payload portions of a data frame, the directional antenna array can continue to scan potential new best angles. When the invention is deployed in a relay function, where messages received from a first node are to be forwarded to a second node, the recorded direction of its best reception is retrieved for the second node and used when the antenna array is used to transmit the signal to the second node. Storage of the best antenna angle for propagation to neighbor nodes can be handled by control functions in a manner that is analogous to other router lookup tables, such as being contained in a lookup table that stores IP addresses.