The method for operating a UWB device having at least one transmitting antenna and/or at least one receiving antenna comprises the following steps: controlling the transmitting antenna (12) or the receiving antenna (12′) with a control pulse signal (13,13′) having a sequence of substantially sinusoidal pulses of alternating polarity and differing amplitudes and particularly having the waveform of a fifth-order Gaussian pulse signal, wherein the transmitting antenna (12) can be alternately supplied with current pulses of differing polarity and differing magnitude by switching on and off first electronic switch units (16) that are coupled to the transmitting antenna (12) and have resistances associated with the amplitudes of the pulses to be generated, wherein each first switch unit (16) has a specifiable, particularly equal, number of first switching transistors (18,19), each having substantially identical on-state resistance values (R), wherein the resistance of a first switch unit is adjusted either by using only one of the first switching transistors (18,19) or by using a plurality of first switching transistors (18,19) connected in parallel, and wherein the first switch units (16) are controlled sequentially according to a specifiable temporal schema and each for a control time interval of a predetermined length.