Systems and methods are provided for decoding a signal vector in a transmission scheme that uses transmit diversity as well as HARQ, repetition coding, or any other protocol that allows a receiver to obtain multiple reception of common transmit information. Information obtained in more than one symbol period are treated as a single received vector, and each of the received signal vectors may be processed to reduce or remove phase rotations caused by the channel. The received signal vectors may be combined by addition and decoded using a maximum-likelihood decoder. In some embodiments, the transmitter and receiver are configured to communicate using the transmit diversity scheme and a spatial multiplexing scheme. The scheme may be chosen based on the quality of the channel through which communication takes place.