AbstractThe present work establishes the use of the defected microstrip structure (DMS) as a novel method of tuning the central frequency of rectangular printed antennas. The error obtained from the predicted operating frequency and the measured one is less than 4%, without degrading the VSWR, radiation pattern, and antenna gain. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 48: 370–373, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www. interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.21352