There are two common uses for attenuators when used in conjunction with the network analyzer. One is to attenuate the oscillator source signal. While this may seem odd, one of the most common errors in analyzer measurements is using a source signal that is too large. Even though the analyzer allows setting of the signal output amplitude, the lowest setting is often too high to allow an accurate small-signal measurement to be made. The correct amplitude is the smallest amplitude that exceeds the noise floor.

Attenuators are also useful for improving the dynamic range of the measurement. In some cases, as in measuring the open loop gain of an opamp as one example, the low frequency loop gain will be extremely large (100dB or more is not uncommon). Attenuating the output signal increases the effective range of the measurement.