A dual‐band orthogonal orientation‐shifted U‐slotted stacked antenna array is presented in this article for long‐term evolution (LTE) and wireless local area network (WLAN) applications covering the frequency of 2.6 and 5.8 GHz. U‐slotted are integrated in radiating patches with one side of the array U‐slot is shifted by orthogonal orientation from its actual position. FR‐4 substrate with 5‐mm air gap from Aluminum (Al) plate ground plane is designed to form the stacked structure. Two main U‐slotted patches are connected with simple quarter wavelength transmission line designed at the reverse side of FR‐4 substrate using copper via with another four U‐slotted patches are coupled parasitically offering simple array structure. It is found that combination of normal and orthogonal orientation‐shifted U‐slotted patches with four parasitic patches assist the antenna array to realize dual‐band operation. Moreover, the unwanted frequency of 3.9 and 4.5 GHz are notched out as well by the presence of parasitic patches. This leaving the proposed antenna with the only two desired frequency band of 2.6 GHz with −16.663 dB reflection coefficient while −22.261 dB at 5.8 GHz. The proposed antenna is simple, compact in size and stated high gain of 8.63 dBi at 2.6 GHz and 7.31 dBi at 5.8 GHz, respectively. The antenna recorded good agreement between the simulation and measurement results for reflection coefficient, E‐plane and H‐plane radiation pattern. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 58:985–989, 2016