A multimode radio frequency coil (50.sub.1) receives resonance signals from a region of interest while allowing arbitrary placement of the coil. A peripheral electrical conductor (62) is divided into four symmetric segments by capacitors (76), (78), (80), (82). A pair of crossing conductors (64, 66) are connected between 90.degree. offset diagonally opposite portions of the peripheral loop (62). The crossing conductors include capacitors (68, 70) when not connected and include capacitors (68, 70, 86, 88) when connected at their midpoints. With this configuration, the coil supports orthogonal modes (72, 74) within the plane of the coil and, additionally, a third orthogonal mode (84) perpendicular to the plane of the coil. To image an extended region, a plurality of coils are overlapped to minimize mutual inductance relative to a first mode. An adjustable capacitor (90) across one of the coils adjusts mutual inductance relative to the second mode. A pair of half wavelength conductors (94, 96) are connected diagonally across the coils and are interconnected by an adjustable capacitor (98) for adjusting the third mode.