We describe two different approaches to employ chaotic signals in spread-spectrum (SS) communication systems with phase and frequency modulation. In the first one a chaotic signal is used as a carrier. We demonstrate that using a feedback loop controller, the local chaotic oscillator in the receiver can be synchronized to the transmitter. The information can be transmitted using phase or frequency modulation of the chaotic carrier signal. In the second system the chaotic signal is used for frequency modulation of a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) to provide a SS signal similar to frequency hopping systems. We show that in a certain parameter range the receiver VCO can be synchronized to the transmitter VCO using a relatively simple phase lock loop (PLL) circuit. The same PLL is used for synchronization of the chaotic oscillators. The information signal can be transmitted using a binary phase shift key (BPSK) or frequency shift key (BFSK) modulation of the frequency modulated carrier signal. Using an experimental circuit operating at radio frequency band and a computer modeling we study the bit error rate (BER) performance in a noisy channel as well as multiuser capability of the system.