A method includes receiving signals that are transmitted over a communication channel in multiple blocks that are transmitted in respective frequency bins during respective time intervals, some of the blocks in a predefined subset of the frequency bins containing reference signals. An estimate of the communication channel, for a given block transmitted during a respective time interval, is computed by (i) computing respective interim filtering results for the blocks transmitted in the respective time interval in the respective frequency bins belonging to the predefined subset, by filtering one or more of the reference signals transmitted in the respective frequency bins of the block; and (ii) combining the interim filtering results to produce the estimate of the communication channel.