The article is devoted to the study of the state of diagnosing the integrity of cables. The current state of diagnostics of problems of damage of cables is shown. Formulas for calculating several signals reflected from damage have been removed. To ensure the automation of the measurement process, based on the functional diagram of the automatic diagnostic device with measurement of distances to damage by the combined pulse-phase method, a block diagram of an automated distance meter to damage was developed, which allows measuring the investigated cable in automatic mode. This reduces the loss of time to perform measurement operations and ensure the required sequence of actions without the participation of the operator.