pocket on the garment 26 secured by fasteners to the garment or mounted on a waist belt separate from the garment fig1 3 illustrate a preferred arrangement of the antenna array 11 being worn by the person or individual 14 fig3 is a diagrammatic representation of the rf beams produced by the individual dipole radiators 21 it will be understood that the antenna array 11 radiates into a near space in front of and to the sides of the person 14 wearing it in a pattern that is generally columnar extending from floor level to a level overhead of the person 14 depending on the selected power level the range of the antenna array 11 can be between 2 and 10 ft rf power density that reaches the user is minimal the power is distributed across all of the antenna stubs 21 antennas are preferably alternately powered thus cutting the duty cycle in half further the antennas 16 are not operated when the reader 12 is processing data further reducing the duty cycle of the antennas the reader 12 energizes the antenna dipoles 21 and receives rfid signals from rfid tags through the antenna dipoles where desired the person 14 wearing the garment 26 can be shielded from antenna radiation by providing a reflective material for example in the form of a conductive metal film or cloth next to the person the spacing of this reflective material which can be provided for example.