Abstract: A high performance dielectric ceramic filter in a small package is designed with one or more holes positioned off of the straight-line bisecting at least two holes. This configuration allows for the elimination of at least one trap hole while maintaining a given performance characteristic for the filter. In one specific embodiment of the present invention the performance characteristics of a conventional five-hole ceramic filter is realized in a three-hole filter wherein the holes are positioned so as to form the vertices of a triangle. The width of the resulting filter is approximately 50% of the width of the conventional five-hole filter it can replace. In another embodiment the same triangular positioning may be used to realize the performance characteristics of a four-hole ceramic filter.