This paper study a symmetric fishnet metamaterial working in the M-band (60 - 100 GHz). Significant effects of the dielectric spacer and the metal pattern on the electromagnetic response are investigated. It is found that the left-handed peak was shifted, enhanced or even destroyed by changing the thickness and the permittivity of the dielectric spacer. In addition, we also present the effect of metal pattern properties on the left-handed transmission spectra. The effective medium parameters are calculated using the standard retrieval method. It is expected that this work will allow us to optimize the appropriate characteristic parameters even without avoiding the trial and error fabrications. | Characterization of a symmetric fishnet metamaterial in the M-band