The ever-increasing need for mobile communication and the emergence of newer technologies require an efficient design of antennae of smaller size for wider frequency range applications such as Wi-MAX. It is an enormous challenge. Microstrip patch antennae have found extensive application in compact wireless communication system. They have advantages of low-profile, conformability, low-cost fabrication and ease of integration with feed networks. This research analyses different feeding techniques and the effect of dielectric constant used for microstrip patch design. The main objective is to design and characterize pin-fed rectangular microstrip patch antenna. The characterization includes the effect of antennae dimensions (length and width), substrate dielectric constant (r) and substrate thickness (t) on the radiation parameters of gain, return loss and bandwidth. The simulations have been carried out on high frequency simulation software. Two different materials of Teflon (dielectric constant 2.2) and glass epoxy (dielectric constant 4.4) are analyzed for substrate design. The simulated results are compared for analysis. The compact rectangular microstrip patch antenna design procedure for cellular phones (Wi-Max) is illustrated. © 2011 IEEE.