6 spans I think from memory and google earth! Then there is the span across the garden from the house -

Today my son had a message to say that they were carrying out traffic management and vegetation cutting - nothing has happened! He is now out of the country for Christmas so BT have our number to contact for any access needed.

On one hand he was told that we had to find out the land owner's details, and on the other they say they won't tell him the address or name of where the problem is!

Following the line along ourselves it has got to be this pole they are talking about - there is a cable that runs down the pole so it must go underground along the back gardens -

if they have overloaded the supply to our lane what will that mean workwise I wonder - new cables? Work at the exchange? There is some reason they are not telling us all the facts here.

We have established that the pole that the one engineer identified is not on the land that we were told - it is actually in the corner of the neighbours garden which was confirmed by the owner of that property - and that Open Reach have not contacted him at all. My son offered this information and the address to BT but they just won't confirm that this is where the problem is -

Ah, OK, so 6 spans will be around the 300m mark.

if they have overloaded the supply to our lane what will that mean workwise I wonder - new cables?

Isn't it just a noisy line ? A lack of capacity would mean no line at all.

If the pole is sufficiently wobbly, the fault could be at the top, particularly if your son's line is being tightened/stretched by the pole, ie the pole tends to lean away from your son's house.

Or it could be at the foot of the pole, where the cable down the poles leaves it to go in to the duct etc towards the exchange. In this case, I would expect that others would be affected as well.

Remember to take account of any vertical wire runs as well as any more obvious horizontal runs, when measuring.

Subject to someone else confirming the usual Reflection Point when using TDRs on phone lines from the Exchange end, it may be important to take account of the wiring within the house to the first working device, phone or broadband etc. My main experience with TDRs was generally with Ethernet and similar networks, within buildings and between such buildings within typical industrial estate limits.

-----------------------------

That neighbour may have a copy of the Wayleave for erecting the pole in his property; and may also receive some form of rental, so it may help progress the situation if he can find such documentary evidence.

Subject to someone else confirming the usual Reflection Point when using TDRs on phone lines from the Exchange end

Best to use the TDR as close to the fault as you can and to use on just a pr of wires ie with all the house kit dissed off .If used on naked wires its good to within .5 M so yep a good bit of kit. This is for the EXFO.

PS The TDR on the HAWK is a lot better for seeing a HR Diss.

Thanks, Bert.

Do you have any idea of what forms the main reflection, when used without any specific preparation, from the Exchange end, on a normal working line?

For example, if the nte is an NTE5, does the filter on its phone side, appear as the main reflection, or is it any piece of equipment on the Customer side of the NTE?

The wiring in the house has been checked! Not sure about the distance because the line from his house to the first pole goes across 2 gardens.

Anyway developments yesterday and today. - Got told the number of the pole - and asked to check it out! The owner of the house where the pole is really situated (not the absent owner) has had 2 emails sent apparently and hasn't replied - BT don't know his phone number. So I went around to see him and met him walking towards me. He wasn't very helpful - but he hasn't had any emails - BT don't have his email he said but he is a customer so of course they have his phone number. I asked him if he wouldn't mind looking for a number on the pole - but he really wasn't interested in helping! He told me that when he had trouble - about a year ago he threatened to chop the pole down if they didn't come out and do something! Another neighbor I bumped into said that Open Reach had been there a short while ago - they had gained access around the back of the house of the absent landowner - (without permission then) because they were investigating giving a line to a house that had been empty for a long time across the road.

Today an Open Reach van appears in our lane. It turns out they are there to provide a line for the new house - they have been waiting 3 months for it. They had a cherry picker too. He didn't know anything about my son's fault but said he would check it out for us and phone us later - He also said there is more room for further lines on our section. He said he would check out the jobs list and let us know when it is going to be done and phone us later - didn't think we would hear anything. I think my son has another couple of months to wait yet by the sound of it!!!! It just makes one want to sit down and cry!

BT fellow told my son they didn't know what could be done - they had only just got to talk to an Open Reach manager and it will be 10 days now before they can contact them again.

I use Google Earth for similar purposes; and you can get extremely and surprisingly accurate measurements on it, as I have proven by comparing such Google results with local known measurements.

It is the Icon that brings up "Show Ruler", along the top.

That will give you the horizontal components of the distance, to which you need to add any verticals.

Subject to anyone else knowing the likely verticals accurately, I suggest that you use 5 Metres for each vertical, subtracting those from the 275 M.

Thus bringing the fault apparently nearer his house, on the basis that the 275 M is "from his house".

Edited by deleted (Thu 25-Dec-14 08:54:30)

Thanks - have done that and the pole in question is less than 275 metres! The line then goes underground I think.

Quite a nice description of using TDRs-

http://www.hipotronics.com/Collateral/Documents/Engl...

=================

Is the pole leaning away from your son's house, hence tightening the cable; or is it towards the house, thus slackening it?