Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A transmitting device may encode a set of bits to transmit to a receiving device based on a repetition factor. The transmitting device may map, based on the repetition factor, the set of encoded bits to a subset of subcarriers such as adjacent subcarriers of a set of subcarriers. The transmitting device may generate a signal including the set of encoded bits based on the mapping, and transmit the generated signal to the receiving device. The receiving device may receive a modulated signal from the transmitting device, and identify, based on a repetition factor, a subset of subcarriers including adjacent subcarriers of a set of subcarriers associated with the modulated signal. The receiving device may average the subset of subcarriers including the adjacent subcarriers, and demodulate the modulated signal in accordance with the averaged subset of subcarriers including the adjacent subcarriers.