Design and Experimental Verification of a 3D Magnetic EZ Antenna at 300 MHz

Several variations of a 300-MHz version of the electrically small coax-fed three-dimensional (3D) magnetic EZ antenna were designed and tested. The final version of this low-profile antenna had an electrical size that was ka ~ 0.437 at 300.96 MHz. Nearly complete matching to the 50-Omega source and high overall efficiency (nearly 100%) were achieved. The measured fractional bandwidth was approximately 1.66%. The numerically predicted and the measured results were in good agreement. Comparisons to similar-sized loop antennas that were matched to the source with both custom-made and commercially available, general purpose external matching networks confirm the performance enhancements achieved with this metamaterial-inspired, near-field resonant parasitic antenna.