Phase transition apparatus for detecting and counting the phase transitions in a low level PSK signal in the presence of a stronger CW signal comprising a mixer to which said PSK and accompanying CW signals are coupled, oscillator means for producing a linear sweep signal having a predetermined frequency-vs-time characteristic, said sweep signal having a sweep duration which is less than or equal to a PSK bit duration, means for coupling said sweep signal to said mixer for modulating said PSK and CW signals, a SAW delay device coupled to the output of said mixer, said SAW device having a frequency-vs.-time characteristic which is similar to yet opposite from that of the oscillator means, the output from said SAW delay device being a Chirp-Z transformation of the input PSK and CW signals with the transformed PSK and CW signals separated in the time domain, a gating circuit coupled to the output of said SAW device, a pulse width discrimator means also coupled to the output of said SAW device and serving to reject all signals except transformed phase transitions of the input PSK signal, pulser means coupled to the output of said discriminator means for producing enabling pulses which serve to periodically enable the gating circuit for short durations to selectively pass the transformed PSK signal including transformed phase transitions thereof, a dual channel SAW differential delay line coupled to the output of said gating circuit, the two channels of said SAW differential delay line being of different lengths to provide a predetermined amount of delay therebetween which is equal to said sweep duration, a comparator for comparing the output signals from the two channels of said SAW differential delay line and providing an output pulse when they differ, and a counter for counting the output pulses from the comparator.