The invention provides for a magnetic resonance imaging system (100) comprising: a magnet (104) for generating a main magnetic field with a homogeneous field zone (108) an antenna (124 900 1000) with an imaging zone (126) that has a fixed geometric relationship with portion (119) of a subject (118) a radio frequency system (114 116 124) for generating a radio frequency pulse (602) a magnetic gradient field system (110 112) and a patient support (120 122) for automatically moving the antenna and the portion of the subject from outside of the homogeneous field zone to within the homogeneous field zone along a movement axis. Machine executable instructions (180 182 184 186 188) cause a processor (136) controlling the magnetic resonance imaging system to: move the antenna and the portion from outside of the homogeneous field zone to within the homogeneous field zone along the movement axis control (402) the radio frequency system to repeatedly generate a radio frequency pulse control (404) the magnetic gradient field system to generate a gradient magnetic field during movement of the subject support only along the movement axis control (406) the radio frequency system to repeatedly measure the radio frequency signal from the portion of the subject using the antenna determine (408) a current location (128) of the antenna or of the imaging zone using the radio frequency signal and control (410) the patient support to decelerate and halt at a predetermined location (109) within the homogeneous field zone using the current location. FIG.1
