atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Outside Plant OSP Construction lost single line

But 1st, look for freshly turned dirt along the probable cable path(s). TWC carefully trenched over (read that as through) my septic tank laterals. The only reason they didn't get the telco cable is it goes the other way around the house, which was a BIG surprise to me when the dogs dug it up! John C.

Trying to use an installer's tone set and a probe is inadequate in outside plant fault locating. I have $4000 worth of buried cable maintenance equipment in my truck, and sometimes that's inadequate. Is there a person you know who is trained in this aspect of the job? It's quite a bit different from working inside a building. It requires a whole other set of training, experience, and skills.

I also do not understand why you cannot identify both ends of the run. It is imperative that you do so first, before performing any further location procedures.

You know where the line is good, at a cross-connection? You know where the line is no good, at the subscriber's location? What is it you need us to tell you? Are you unable to find another intermediate connection point?

There are many different pieces of test equipment which a trained cable maintenance person can use to find a fault within a distance of one foot.

You have not described to us what the fault is.

It can be an open (one or both sides)

A short circuit.

A ground (one or both sides)

A cross with a working pair (one or both sides)

It can be a combination of these problems, and, in addition, you will often find that the fault reading at one end is not the same as the other end. These initial fault determinations are generally done with the KS meter ("brown" meter.)

Once you determine the type of fault, you must them select from your array of tools to begin the location procedure.

You will need to know the route that the cable takes. This requires a buried cable location device. It inserts a tone on the entire cable, and using the receiver part, you walk the suspected route, and mark the route with water-soluble paint.

Then take a physical measurement with a walking wheel. Record the result. This measurement is necessary to prove that your fault location math is correct. You also need to know the gauge of the wires, and the temperature of the ground. You will need to know whether you are working with filled cable or dry cable.

If you are looking for an open, use an open meter to determine how far away the open is. Then go to the other end, and take a reading. See if the two distances make sense.

To locate on a resistive fault, use a fault meter, such as the Dynatel model 965. If there is a dead short, use a hot-set and see if the SC will hold a tone. If not, try to weld it. Then take a resistance reading and divide by the feet per ohms factor for the gauge of cable.

Keep us posted, and we will talk you through this. We are here to help.

thank you for all the feedback and sorry for the confusion. in the office/demark the lines cross connect to the outgoing feed block to the spaces. there is only one designated pair for each space. on the other end at the home the phone demark was covered up. i put a tone for burial cable and could pick it up at a cross connect next door. trouble is this devise bleads and wont id which line it is. and unlike most tone senders if you short the pair it wont kill the tone. when i go to the space between this home and the one i am working on i dont pick up any tone between the two. i will check the batteries on my regular toner and make sure they are up. i hope i have provided enough enformation this time. thanks again. dave

the device for buried cable is designed to do just that , locate buried cable , not for isolating a pair out of the bundle .

if the dial tone is good at the cross connect and each space has only has one pair assigned to it (poor practice )and you have no dial tone at the unit what good is the tone doing you ?

or do you not know which pair is assigned to the space ?

very probably there is a break in the cable which is preventing your tone to make it to the cross connect ,

try grounding one lead of the tone and alternating the other lead between the conductors at the space

sounds like you may be looking at burying a new cable or finding and splicing a break

keep us advised as to what you find , this one is interesting

Read my post again. What is the fault? Is it a short, an open, a ground, etc?

You need to start at the beginning. Just trying to send tone is not the way to start. You need to meter the pair from both ends, and give us the results of the test.

If its only 25 pair, this should be relatively easy to determine even if the tone is bleeding on to other pairs. Get rid of the probe and use a butt set; check pair by pair, and you will definitely come across the right one.

Maybe it's bleeding because he hasn't isolated the pair yet?

The cable may have failed, and many or all of the pairs may be crossed.

Without an initial test of all pairs, from both ends, we are still in the dark.

You can lead a horse to water, you know the rest.

Point taken.

By the way Davetel you can do all the suggested things in Mr B's list with the side kick except measuring with a walking wheel