What does it mean to generate tone on a wire, how do tone generators/probes work?

Question

I got a set of devices to help me trace ethernet cables, it’s a “toner” and “probe”. The toner generates a tone on one of the wires and then I can use the probe to find it as it produces that frequency sound when its tip is near the correct wire.

My question is, what exactly is happening? What’s being generated, how does it translate to sound, what exactly am I hearing?

Thanks!

In: 2

Answer 1

The tone box injects audible signal into the line and the probe acts as a microphone and picks the signal up. The frequency it uses isn’t specific to the probe. The signal it injects could also be heard by a test phone handset.