Antennas (100, 1000, 1600, 1800, 1900) or other radio frequency components that include an electrically configurable anisotropic element (112, 1502, 1608, 1806) are provided. According to certain embodiments the electrical configurable anisotropic element (112, 1502, 1608, 1806, 1904, 1906, 1918, 1920, 1922) includes a material (202, 1912, 1924) including carbon nanotubes or conductive nano-tubes or nano-wires (208) dispersed in a liquid crystal material or other medium with that can be aligned by an applied field.