A system and method for electronically steering an antenna. An array is assembled from direct spatial antenna modulation (DSAM) antenna elements each of which makes use of the spatial characteristics of a radiating antenna structure to directly alter a signal transmitted or received by the radiating structure. A data stream maps a carrier to spatial points directly to In-Phase and Quadrature components (IQ) of the output. The DSAM antennas elements control I and Q directly. The assembled array provides beam forming phase shifts with amplitude only control as well as providing joint modulation and beam forming. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this Abstract.