A new scheme for adjusting the code rates of RS (Reed-Solomon) and CPC (complementary punctured convolutional) codes to match the channel conditions is proposed for wireless asynchronous transfer mode (WATM). The main feature of this scheme is that all retransmitted sequences are self-decodable. The proposed scheme increases the error correcting capability of RS and CPC codes and uses different code rates for the header and payload of the ATM cell according to the type of data.