A UHF radio frequency identification tag antenna using an inductively coupled feeding method and meander lines is proposed. The antenna has a compact size (diameter: 0.08 lambda, 26.4 mm), wide bandwidth, and simple matching technique between a tag antenna (aid a tag chip. To get a physical operation of the proposed antenna, a simplified structure is presented and analyzed. An equivalent circuit model with a simplified structure has good results compared with a simulation. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 51: 1291-1294, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.24295