A head imaging MRI apparatus includes a microstrip-based RF coil comprising: a cylindrical non-magnetic core module having an outer surface and a longitudinal axis, a cylindrical bore extending through the core module along the longitudinal axis defining an inner surface; a pair of circuit boards carried at or near the end of the core module and a plurality of conductive strip lines. The strip lines extend parallel to the longitudinal axis on the outer surface of the core module. The coil's one or more conductive strips are divided into conductive microstrip segments with one or more tuning capacitors being bridged between two adjacent microstrip segmented sections of a conductive strip. A shield support cylinder, support cylinder, supports a conductive-segmented shield operatively connected to the conductive strips through tunable capacitors at a front and rear of the shield support cylinder, is disposed concentrically about the core module and spaced therefrom to receive tuning capacitors.
