a method and apparatus for combining space - frequency block coding in a multiple - input multiple - output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing system is described herein . a transmitter , according to one embodiment , may include four antennas and circuitry configured to transmit in an ofdm symbol time period using both frequency diversity and sfbc . for frequency diversity at least one first data element may be repeated producing at least two second data elements and the two second data elements are transmitted using different subcarriers . for space frequency block coding , a pair of third data elements may be space frequency block coded producing four fourth data elements . the four fourth data elements may be transmitted using two subcarriers and only two of the four antennas .