A device for the transmission and/or reception of RF signals for magnetic resonance imaging (RF coil system) is constructed as an RF coil (body coil) which is permanently mounted in a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus or as a so-called dedicated RF coil (that is, as a separate RF coil which is to be arranged on or around a region to be examined, for example, a head coil, a shoulder coil, a flexible surface coil etc.). A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus includes an RF coil system of this kind. The RF coil system includes a plurality of resonant conductor elements (201, 202, . . . , 208; 211, 212, . . . , 218), notably .quadrature./4 monopole elements. In comparison with known RF coil systems of the same length, a substantially larger field of view as well as a constant variation and a steeper drop of the field characteristic are thus achieved at the edges of the RF coil system while the construction remains comparatively simple and economical nevertheless.