A coil (36) includes coil elements (38.sub.1, 38.sub.2, . . . 38.sub.n). The coil (36) can transmit radio frequency excitation pulses into an examination region (14) and/or receive responsive radio frequency pulses from the examination region (14). A compensation network (42) includes decoupling segments (98), which each has a selected electrical length at least of a quarter wavelength (.lamda./4) and is electrically coupled to an associated coil element (38.sub.1, 38.sub.2, . . . , 38.sub.n) and a reactive network (100). The compensation network (42) at least compensates coupling between the coil elements (38.sub.1, 38.sub.2, . . . , 38.sub.n).