Equipment Operation Flashcards
7 cards from real CST practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Equipment Operation flashcards as text
When setting up a total station over a point with an optical plummet, what is the correct order of final adjustments?
Answer: Roughly level with the tripod legs, fine-level with the leveling screws, then slide the instrument on the tripod head to re-center
Rough leveling with the legs, fine leveling with the foot screws, and loosening the tripod head to re-center is repeated until the instrument is both level and over the point.
A crew uses a prism with a -30 mm constant, but the total station is set to 0 mm. What happens to the measured distances?
Answer: Each distance is about 30 mm too long
A -30 mm prism constant must be subtracted, so leaving it at 0 mm makes every distance 30 mm too long.
Why does a technician measure angles in both face left and face right (direct and reverse)?
Answer: To cancel collimation and trunnion axis errors by averaging
Averaging direct and reverse readings cancels most instrument axis errors such as collimation and horizontal axis tilt.
In a differential leveling run, keeping backsight and foresight distances equal mainly removes which error?
Answer: Line-of-sight (collimation) error of the level, plus curvature and refraction
Balanced sight lengths make collimation, curvature, and refraction errors equal on both readings, so they cancel in the difference.
What is the purpose of waving (rocking) the level rod slowly toward and away from the instrument?
Answer: To find the lowest reading, which occurs when the rod is plumb
When the rod is rocked, the minimum reading occurs at the plumb position.
Before setting out a stakeout point with a total station, which station-setup information must be correct?
Answer: Occupied point coordinates, backsight orientation, instrument height, and target height
Correct stakeout requires the occupied coordinates, a verified backsight orientation, and correct instrument and target heights.
A circular (bull's-eye) bubble on a prism pole is out of adjustment. What is the most likely result?
Answer: The pole is not plumb when the bubble is centered, displacing the prism horizontally from the point
An out-of-adjustment pole bubble leaves the pole tilted, shifting the prism horizontally off the point and causing position errors.