An RF array coil consisting of several separately resonant elements, any one of which can be selected as the receiver coil at a particular time. Coils not in use are decoupled. Applications of switchable coils include imaging the whole spine without patient repositioning (where the coil elements may collectively be known as a ladder coil), imaging of bilateral structures such as TMJ or orbit using separate coils, or imaging using a coil with selectable field of view.

See also the related poll result: '3rd party coils are better than the original manufacturer coils'