A modem is described having a transceiver assembly, a non-transitory processor readable medium coupled to the transceiver assembly, transceiver electronics coupled to the transceiver and the non-transitory processor readable medium, and a power supply supplying power to the transceiver assembly and the transceiver electronics. The transceiver electronics are configured to calculate a size of an output bit stream based on an encoding scheme to encode for transmission data stored in the non-transitory processor readable medium, decimate the data if the size of the output bit stream exceeds a predetermined size, recalculate the size of the output bit stream, after decimation of the data, based on the encoding scheme to encode for transmission the decimated data, and encode the data using the encoding scheme.