I'm an RF engineer who has been handling field test equipment orders for about eight years. I've personally made (and documented) enough significant mistakes to total roughly $12,000 in wasted budget. The biggest one? Buying an Anritsu 37369C vector network analyzer without checking the power supply requirements.
Let me save you the headache: if you're looking at a 37369C for field work, stop. Get an Anritsu Site Master or a handheld cable and antenna analyzer instead. If you need a lab-grade unit, you need to budget for a power supply, a calibration kit, and the physical space to set it up. It took me a $900 mistake and three weeks of downtime to learn that lesson.
This isn't a review of the 37369C's performance—it's a great unit for its era. This is a warning about the context of the purchase. Everything I'd read about the 37369C said it was a workhorse VNA for production and lab environments. In practice, for a field engineer working out of a truck, it was a nightmare.
Here's what I learned, what I use now, and what you should look for.
My experience is based on managing test equipment for a mid-sized telecom contractor. We handle DAS installations, small-cell deployments, and macro site maintenance across the Southeast US. I've managed about 200 equipment purchases, rentals, and repairs over my career.
Our team has six field engineers. I'm the guy who researches the gear, puts in the purchase orders, and fixes the mistakes. The 37369C disaster happened in September 2022. I bought it used from a surplus reseller on eBay. The listing said "fully functional," and the price was too good—$3,200 for a unit that originally sold for over $30,000.
What the listing didn't say: the unit required a specific, proprietary power supply module that was missing. The 37369C is a benchtop unit that needs a 100-120VAC, 50/60Hz input converted to internal DC rails. No power supply? No operation. I spent another $890 on a replacement module and a calibration check. Then I had to figure out how to transport a 45-lb unit to a cell site. It was a disaster.
We've since caught 47 potential errors using our pre-purchase checklist. That checklist exists because of this one mistake.
The conventional wisdom in test & measurement is that you want the highest specs you can afford. My experience with field operations suggests otherwise: portability and ruggedization often beat raw performance when you're working on a tower in July.
The Anritsu 37369C is a 40 GHz VNA. It's incredibly precise. It's also a heavy, benchtop instrument designed for a temperature-controlled lab environment. I needed a field instrument for cable and antenna testing, PIM testing, and basic spectrum analysis. What I actually needed was an Anritsu Site Master (S331L or similar).
Here's what most people don't realize: the Anritsu Site Master line (cable and antenna analyzers) and the Anritsu PIM Master are designed specifically for field use. They're handheld, battery-powered, and rugged. The 37369C is none of those things. I confused "being able to do the job" with "being the right tool for the job."
Let me break down the numbers:
That's $4,175 plus 3 weeks of scheduling headaches, all because I didn't ask the right questions before buying. The mistake affected a $3,200 order where every single aspect of the purchase had its own hidden cost.
If you're deploying or maintaining 5G, LTE, or microwave links in the field, stop looking at benchtop VNAs. Here's what Anritsu makes that you actually want:
The Anritsu Site Master (S331L, S332E, S362E) is the industry standard for a reason. It's a handheld VNA optimized for field use. It does return loss, VSWR, cable loss, and distance-to-fault (DTF) measurements. It's portable—roughly 5 lbs, with a battery that lasts a full day. You can climb a tower with it strapped over your shoulder.
The 37369C, by contrast, requires a cart, a power source, and a flat, vibration-free surface.
If you're troubleshooting passive intermodulation (PIM), the Anritsu PIM Master (MW82119A) is the tool. It's also handheld and battery-powered. PIM testing is a field task—you need to test the installation as-built, not a lab sample.
What I learned: the PIM Master costs more upfront ($8k-$15k depending on options), but it actually saves money because you don't waste time hauling a benchtop unit to a site, setting it up, and troubleshooting power issues.
The Anritsu Spectrum Master (MS2710xA series) is the field standard for spectrum analysis, signal mapping, and interference hunting. It covers from 9 kHz to 43 GHz depending on the model.
For field work, this is a far better bet than the 37369C unless you specifically need a 4-port VNA for differential measurements—which most field engineers don't.
I should be fair. The 37369C is a high-performance VNA for its generation. It's useful in:
If you're setting up a bench in a controlled environment and you can get a 37369C fully configured (with the correct power supply, calibration kit, and cables) for under $1,500, it's a solid workhorse. But that's a narrow use case.
Honestly, I'm not sure why the 37369C gets recommended so often in forum threads about "budget VNAs." My best guess is that people see the original price and assume the used price is a bargain, without accounting for the total cost of ownership and the physical footprint.
After the 37369C fiasco, I standardized our field kit:
Is this setup perfect? No. The Site Master S331L has a smaller screen than I'd like. The PIM Master's battery life is about 4 hours under continuous test, which means I need to carry spares. But these are field-grade tools. They work in the rain, on a lift, in a confined equipment room, without external power. The 37369C cannot do any of that.
If you absolutely must buy a 37369C or similar benchtop VNA, here's my pre-purchase checklist (the one I created after the third rejection in Q1 2024):
That said, if you're a field engineer reading this, just get the Site Master. The 37369C is a great instrument in the right context. My mistake was putting it in the wrong one. Don't repeat my error.