how easy is it to use a CAT tool?

[arbmark]

without doing a course first? i urgently need to scan some sites after a mate of mine got the hump with me over somthing i know nothing about and wont do it? can i just hire one and go for it?

 

alternatively, anyone think where i can get it done?

 

anyone able to do it urgently in north devon?

 

agghh help!

 

cheers, mark

[JonnyVine]

Go for it!

[Rich2484]

They are easy. Hire one and have a bit of a play first if never used one. Find a service you know is there then wave it over the top.

 

Can of spray is essential aswell. Just spray when ever it bleeps and you markers will give it away.

[arbmark]

thanks, love the optimism! can you back it up wth any words of advice!!??

[arbmark]

They are easy. Hire one and have a bit of a play first if never used one. Find a service you know is there then wave it over the top.

 

Can of spray is essential aswell. Just spray when ever it bleeps and you markers will give it away.

 

thanks v much - i got the sheep marker....

[niftysteve]

cat scanner wont pick up plastic pipes unless you are able to find a pipe and use the signal generator

[Rich2484]

Ok. Just worried I had the right tool in my head then. You mean the service detection device.

 

If you walk the site in a grid like fashion marking every time it bleeps you will end up with lots of marks. Some will mean nothing. Others will mean pipes etc. when you walk a line and it bleeps do a spray line or arrow pointing int he direction you are walking. After doing these a lot you will end up arrows that point the way a line is going.

 

Ifyou only get one marker that isn't in line with any others discard this as its probably something else.

 

 

As I said use it on a service you know is there and can follow it a bit. They take a bit of setting up with type and depth or strength of signal but easy when they are done. Just follow the instructions or ask the hire service to give you a quick brief on the tool.

 

Think of it like a big metal detector.

[openspaceman]

without doing a course first? i urgently need to scan some sites after a mate of mine got the hump with me over somthing i know nothing about and wont do it? can i just hire one and go for it?

 

If you can get hold of one that works it's easy, scan using each of the three settings whether you have the signal generator or not, because they each "listen" for different types of signals. They work on the "noise" from a cable carrying an electromagnetic signal, no noise may just mean the cable is not currently in use.

 

Check the battery level before you start ( normally switch to battery test and pull trigger)

 

Hold it by your side alongside but not too close to your calf and near to the ground, walk forward with the trigger pulled at a slow steady pace, Once you get a trace try to go over it at right angles to its run to mark it out.

 

Remember its a cable avoidance tool, it can show you where a cable is but it doesn't guarantee where there is not a cable

 

If in doubt give up

[j warwick]

Very easy to use just select whether your detecting Power (electric), radio (bt cables, cable tv/ and any other telecommunications). There is genny which is used to find specific cable route's such as finding lampost lighting cables as very low current through daylight hours. To operate just select one of the above setting depending on what your looking for have the volume/sensitivity at the maximum then scan the area in a criss cross diraection if you get a trace just turn the sensitivity down till you pin point your underground apparatus. Very similar to using a metal detector our ferret finder. hope this may help

[Gareth Dalzell]

A CAt tool is easy to use. The big thing is how accurate or effective are they. They will help find charged cables below the surface - they will not find every service, plastic water or gas pipes street lighting when its not on. The basic ones won't tell you what depth the service is at either. You can induce a charge for detection into dead cables and metal pipes with a the addition of a "Gen" and what we find very useful for locating drains where we can get access from an adjacent manhole or gully is a "sonde" which is a little torpedo blob thingy you switch on and screw onto a sewer rod and then push and follow it from above ground with the CAT. They assist but do not give a definitive guarantee that there an area is service free - they help with cable avoidance