Electromagnetic coupling to realistic wire configurations exhibit large variations with respect to the frequency, incident angle, and polarization of the interfering signal. In this work, Characteristic Mode Analysis (CMA) is used to calculate the fundamental modes of a terminated wire above an infinite ground plane. Using the properties of the modes, the
coupled currents to the wire’s loads are predicted for different incident excitations. Using this simple but practical wire configuration, we show the versatility of CMA in practical
electromagnetic interference and coupling applications.