Maximum transition run (MTR) codes provide significant minimum distanc
e gains when used with sequence detectors operating at high linear den
sities. A method for reducing the RLL k constraint associated with MTR
block codes is presented. A block decodable, rate 4/5 MTR code with k
=4 illustrates the technique. This reduction of k is combined with sli
ding-block decoding to develop a 97.8% efficient rate 6/7 MTR code wit
h k=8.