Patent ID: 6856294

Claim:
A physically compact radio-device, comprising: a printed circuit board having a metal ground plane located on a relatively large-area portion of a surface of said printed circuit board; circuitry for said radio-device physically associated with said ground plane, said ground plane providing a common-electrical-ground connection for said circuitry; a thin dielectric carriage located on a relatively small-area portion of said surface of said printed circuit board, wherein said small-area portion of said printed circuit board abuts said relatively large-area portion of said printed circuit board; said dielectric carriage having a plurality of sidewalls whose top surfaces define a top surface of said dielectric carriage and whose bottom surfaces define a bottom surface of said dielectric carriage; said top surface of said dielectric carriage being generally parallel to said bottom surface of said dielectric carriage; said bottom surface of said dielectric carriage being located on said second relatively small-area portion of said surface of said printed circuit board; a metal antenna element on said dielectric carriage, said antenna element being located above and being laterally spaced from, said ground plane; at least one metal loading strip connected to at least one portion of said antenna element and extending along at least one sidewall of said dielectric carriage; and a metal antenna feed strip extending from a first portion of said antenna element to said circuitry.