1. A method for determining a channel impulse response for a channel comprising: &lsqb;a&rsqb; determining an initial channel impulse response estimate based upon a stored training sequence and a received signal; &lsqb;b&rsqb; thresholding the initial channel impulse response estimate; &lsqb;c&rsqb; estimating a noise variance for the channel based upon the stored training sequence, the thresholded initial channel impulse response estimate, and the received signal; &lsqb;d&rsqb; determining an inverse of a covariance matrix based on the estimated noise variance and the thresholded initial channel impulse response estimate; &lsqb;e&rsqb; updating the channel impulse response based on the inverse covariance matrix, the stored training sequence, and the received signal; and, &lsqb;f&rsqb; thresholding the updated channel impulse response estimate.