A simple dual band‐notched antenna is proposed for ultra‐wideband (UWB) applications. The basic UWB antenna, which consists of a half ring‐shaped patch and a trapezoidal ground, occupies a compact area of 25 × 25 mm2. By introducing a single U‐shaped resonator on the patch, dual band‐notched function is realized without increasing the antenna size. An additional resonance near 3 GHz can be excited by the U‐shaped resonator combined with the half ring‐shaped radiator. And the antenna impedance at 3.5 GHz is also affected which leads to a notched band. Besides, reverse currents can be produced along the resonator to produce the other notched band at 5.5 GHz. Experimental results show that the designed antenna has a wide impedance bandwidth (return loss ≤10 dB) ranging from 2.97 to 12 GHz with two rejection bands operating at 3.5 and 5.5 GHz. Meanwhile, the antenna also exhibits moderate gains and omnidirectional radiation patterns over the operating bands except at the undesired frequencies, which make it a suitable candidate for UWB applications. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 57:2129–2134, 2015