A method transmits a block of symbols in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) network including a transmitter having a set of transmit antennas and a receiver having a set of receive antennas. A block of symbols is coded with a first code to generate a first block, which is transmitted and received. If a decoding of the first block is incorrect, then block of symbols is coded with the first code and then a second code different than the first code to generate a second block. The second block is transmitted, received and combined with the first block to recover the block of symbols.