Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for transmitting demodulation reference signals (DMRS) with control channels (e.g., physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs)) that enable receiving devices to bundle (e.g., coherently combine) the DMRS over time. A UE may detect a portion of a PDCCH to the UE in at least one resource element group (REG), wherein the REG is in a segment of a control resource set (CORESET) configured for the UE or a group of UEs including the UE and the REG is during a first search space (SS) set occasion configured for the UE or the group of UEs; and process wideband (WB) DMRS in the segment during the first SS set occasion and in the segment during at least one second SS set occasion, wherein the UE does not detect another portion of the PDCCH or another PDCCH during the second SS set occasion.