Coupling impedance values of accelerator components can be obtained from standard bench measurements based on the coaxial wire method. The longitudinal impedance is obtained with one wire and the transverse impedance with a twin wire inserted into the "device under test". The coupling impedance follows from the interpretation of the scattering coefficients from a network analyzer. In this report, models and formulae applicable to the interpretation of the data are collected and reviewed, with emphasize on lumped and distributed kicker magnets.