Abstract: A dual antenna structure for inductive sensing of charged ink jet drops. The structure includes two sense rails or wires, each on an opposite side of a series of ink jet drop streams and perpendicular to the streams. Conductive shields are located on the fore and aft sides of each sense rail to shield the rail from all but a small portion of each drop stream path. A separate low impedance amplifier is connected to each sense rail and both are grounded in common to the shields. Using the sensor, various measurements may be made on a jet stream whose drops are charged, including jet alignment, drop arrival time for establishing velocity, charge electrode operation, and charge phasing.