A CPW‐feed prototype slot antenna for ultra‐wideband applications is proposed. The slot is made by etching on the ground plane, the union of two elliptical structures placed at right angles. The fractal shape antenna is excited by two stepped CPW feed. To enhance the gain, a compact ultra‐wideband frequency selective surface (FSS) structure is designed and implemented. The measured impedance bandwidth of antenna with and without FSS is nearly same and equal to 9.0 GHz from 3.6 to 12.6 GHz. The measured peak gain varies from 3 to 5 dB without FSS and from 5 to 12.5 dB with FSS. Measured results are found in good agreement with the simulated results. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 56:1498–1502, 2014