I have an internal antenna in my cell phone and there are two contacts that connect to the main PCB, one of which leads to the RF switch and the other connects to DC ground. However, on the actual antenna itself, these two contacts connect to each other. Can someone explain how this type of antenna works?

 

There is an inductance in the antenna between the two wires out of it. There may be continuity at DC, but at high frequencies, it appears as a load matched to the RF output impedance of the phone.

 

Not sure I'm following you. I'm looking at the antenna and the two traces are clearly physically connected, about 1/4" before they connect to the PCB. Can you provide any useful links/references that explains this type of antenna?

 

Does the PCB trace make a "spiral" shape in a square?

Can you post a photo of the PCB area and connection to the antenna?

Some antennas are actually for decoration and use a "pad antenna" on the board.

 

http://spanish.alibaba.com/product-tp/antenna-module-for-nokia-1208-104023704.html

Two contacts are in the upper left corner. As you can see, they are both connected together on the antenna side (large copper plane). The bottom contact connects to the RF switch on the PCB and the top contact connects to ground on the PCB. This is a GSM 900/1800 MHz cell phone.