Apparatus and methods are disclosed for gating reverse link transmissions of ¼ rate, ½ rate, ¾ rate, and/or full rate frames in a wireless communication system, such that an access terminal can reduce its power consumption. The gating or discontinuous transmission (DTX) of the reverse link transmission may be conditionally applied based on factors such as the state of the access terminal, the filtered average power of gated the transmissions, or other factors. Further, the gating utilizes a pattern configured to be orthogonal to a pattern utilized for 1x smart blanking, and further configured not to interrupt forward link or reverse link power control signaling. Other aspects, embodiments, and features are also claimed and discussed.