In a message modulated according to orthogonal amplitude-modulated component signals in 5G or 6G, the receiver can attempt to recover a corrupted message by evaluating the modulation quality of each component signal in each message element. The modulation quality of each component signal may be determined according to a distance between the amplitude of the component signal and the closest amplitude level of the modulation scheme, as determined by a prior demodulation reference. The modulation quality may also be determined by the SNR and amplitude stability of the component signal. Upon detecting a corrupted message, the receiver can identify the faulted message elements according to modulation quality, and if the faulted message elements are clustered in a portion of the message (as is common), the receiver can request that just the faulted portion be retransmitted, saving time and bandwidth.