The implementation of a common control channel is one of the most challenging issues in cognitive radio networks, since a fully reliable control channel cannot be created without reserving bandwidth specifically for this purpose. In this paper, we investigate a promising solution that exploits the ultra wide band (UWB) technology to let cognitive radio nodes discover each other and exchange control information for establishing a communication link. The contribution of this paper is threefold: (i) We define the communication protocol needed to let cognitive radio nodes discover each other and exchange control information for link set up, (ii) we overcome the gap in coverage, which typically exists between UWB and long-medium range technologies, by using multi-hop communication, (iii) we evaluate the performance of our approach by adopting an accurate channel model and show its benefits with respect to an in-band signaling solution.