AbstractIn this paper we present a new set of blind equalization algorithms for multicarrier CDMA systems with receiver diversity. We first re‐examine the cost function in the well‐known subspace method and interpret it in terms of the noise projector, which can be effectively approximated by a special weighted spectral decomposition of the data autocorrelation matrix. By adding a user‐specific cost term to the common cost function, we show that all user channel responses can be estimated in parallel. A block algorithm with lower complexity is derived first, followed by a recursive algorithm using RLS‐type matrix updating. Our new approach treats additional antennas in the same way as a higher processing gain and provides a programmable structure to compromise between spectral and spatial diversity. Simulations show our method is near–far resistant, and our adaptive algorithm has fast convergence. Copyright