A novel ferromagnetic resonance technique has been developed, allowing both swept-held and swept-frequency absorption spectra to be produced using a single broadband spectrometer. A straightforward through-transmission method removes the need for a commercial network analyzer, making this a versatile yet inexpensive tool for the characterization of magnetic materials. initial results from gamma ferric oxide tape show good agreement with published data from a conventional, swept-field fixed-frequency FMR spectrometer and indicate the potential of this technique which also enables measurements of the magnetic anisotropy. Swept-frequency and swept-field data are presented for a range of sample orientations. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.