Antenna system for a diagnostic magnetic resonance apparatus

An antenna system for a diagnostic magnetic resonance apparatus, said antenna system comprising:

• a base part containing a first electrical conductor, said base part having opposite ends;
• a plurality of bridge parts of respectively different lengths, each bridge part having opposite ends and each bridge part containing a second electrical conductor having a length substantially equal to the length of the bridge part containing that second electrical conductor;
• connection means at said opposite ends of said base part and said opposite ends of each bridge part for releasably electrically connecting a selected one of said bridge parts to said base part for forming an antenna surrounding an imaging volume, said antenna having a circumferential length matched to a size of said imaging volume;
• and
• said connection means including, at one of said opposite ends of said base part, a plurality of contacts corresponding in number to the plurality of said bridge parts, with said contacts respectively being exclusively assigned to said bridge parts, and a network comprised of a plurality of capacitive elements connected between said contacts and said first electrical conductor in said base part, said network comprising means for producing a total impedance for said base part and any selected one of said bridge parts which is equally large independent of the length of the selected bridge part.