Thanks,
I only need a range of three feet. But its going underneath a car, where it will get much ambient solar background; as well as any IR coming off hot objects.
The IRda recievers commercially available are made for OOK on some operating frequency such as 38khz.

I am currently building a AGC with a variable value comparator using the PIC's built in comparator with Vcref value control.

Thanks for your inputs.

Once I get things working, I'll post my design.

-ray