The invention relates to a method for testing lightwave transmission characteristics in an atmospheric channel, which belongs to the technical field of optics and is used in fields such as wireless optical communication, optical radar and the like. A testing system which comprises a laser emission subsystem, a receiving subsystem and a data processing subsystem is set up, wherein the receiving subsystem comprises two independent receiving light paths: one is a Fresnel screen receiving light path which consists of a Fresnel lens, a field lens and a No. I digital camera and is used for testing attenuation, drift and extension; and the other is an arrival angle fluctuation receiving light path which consists of a receiving lens and a No. II digital camera and is used for testing arrival angle fluctuation. The invention only adopts one set of testing system to carry out the testing of four types of turbulence effects and an attenuation effect, thus having great significance in reducing the number of hardwares needed by the testing of the atmospheric turbulence effects and the attenuation effect, reducing the number of testers, expenditure and period, realizing the miniaturization, light weight and low power consumption of the testing system and implementing quick, convenient and overall lightwave transmission characteristic tests.