A novel compact and wideband microstrip fed monopole antenna is proposed. The impedance bandwidth of the proposed antenna is increased by inserting a narrow slit near the lower right corner of the printed monopole. The designed antenna satisfies the 10-dB return-loss requirement over the frequency hand of 3.1 to 11 GHz. The antenna also shows omnidirectional radiation patterns and good gain flatness. (c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.