In this study, a noncontact main cable NDE method has been developed. This cable NDE method utilizes the direct current (DC) magnetization and a searching coil-based total flux measurement. A total flux sensor head prototype was fabricated that consists of an electro-magnet yoke and a searching coil sensor. To obtain a B-H loop, a magnetic field was generated by applying a cycle of low frequency direct current to the electro-magnet yoke. During the magnetization, a search coil sensor measures the electromotive force from magnetized cable. During the magnetization process, a search coil sensor was measured the magnetic flux density. Total flux was calculated by integrating the measured magnetic flux using a fluxmeter. A B-H loop is obtained by using relationship between a cycle of input DC voltage and measured total flux. The B-H loop can reflect the property of the ferromagnetic materials. Therefore, the cross-sectional loss of cable can be detected using variation of features from the B-H curve. To verify the feasibility of the proposed steel cable NDE method, a series of experimental studies using a main-cable mock-up specimen has been performed in this study.