AbstractAn unbalanced loop antenna of simple construction is proposed for broadband linearly polarized applications. By introducing a gap in a half loop mounted vertically over a ground plane, the bandwidth of the antenna can be substantially increased relative to its classical balanced version. The antenna presented here has a bandwidth of 30% for a maximum −10‐dB return loss, and is fed directly from a coaxial cable without the need for a balun. Numerical and experimental results show that the antenna can cover the entire PCN, UMTS, and IMT2000 frequency allocations and also offer the prospect for reduced SAR. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 34: 233–234, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.10425