A method for providing wireless communications between a locomotive control unit (LCU) (14) on board a locomotive (16) and a portable operator control unit (OCU) (12) for use in controlling operation of the locomotive from an off-board location includes calculating a transmit bit error check value for a wireless message. The wireless message includes an explicit sequence number assigned to the message so that the explicit sequence number is implicitly encoded in the transmit bit error check value. The method also includes transmitting an encoded message between the OCU and the LCU with the transmit bit error check value and without the explicit sequence number effective to reduce a total amount information needed to be transmitted compared to a message including the explicit sequence number.