A radio frequency coil (30) for detecting magnetic resonance signals includes a plurality of distributed-capacitance rungs (70) and one or more conductive segments or rings (72, 74, 100) arranged transverse to the rungs (70) and coupled with the rungs (70). Each rung (70) includes: (i) an insulating substrate (80) having first and second principal 5 sides (82, 84); (ii) a first plurality of spaced apart conductive regions (86) on the first principal side; and (iii) a second plurality of spaced apart conductive regions (88) on the second principal side. The first and second pluralities of spaced apart conductive regions (86, 88) are staggered to efficiently capacitively couple at the magnetic resonance frequency to define a distributed capacitance.