In locating a transformer partial discharge (PD) source, there is a large fluctuation error in the z -coordinate of the location, which results with planar layout ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) antenna sensors. For the large fluctuation error, this paper first theoretically analyzes the reason. According to the theoretical analysis results, a ladder-wise calculation method of the PD source z -coordinate is proposed: first, the x -and y-coordinates of the PD source are calculated, then the univariate equation f (z ) is derived, and the z -coordinate of the PD source is obtained by f (z ). Finally, the positioning effect of the ladder-wise calculation method for PD source z -coordinate is verified experimentally. Experimental results show that the proposed method can reduce the fluctuation of the z -coordinate of the PD source from 0.6 to 0.2, and when the PD location sample set is ≥10, the average absolute error of the z -coordinate is reduced from about 0.4 m to less than 0.1 m.