💾 Archived View for gemini.spam.works › mirrors › textfiles › hacking › CABLE › chicabtv.txt captured on 2022-07-17 at 01:53:37.

View Raw

More Information

⬅️ Previous capture (2022-06-12)

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

                     ?????????????????????????????????????
                     ?       FROM THE ARCANE ARTS        ?              
                     ?               of                  ?            
                     ?             AR-KANE               ?           
                     ?     COMPLETE                      ?            
                     ?   A ^ Guide to Chicago Cable TV   ?  
                     ?a fuckin TCI communications company?
                     ?????????????????????????????????????          

Originally typed by AR-KANE 
MAJOR Editing by THE BEASTMASTER 1/91


DISCLAIMER: THIS IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THE AUTHOR, EDITOR
            TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE READER'S ACTIONS.


First a list of premium channels (scrambled):

15 is The Movie Channel (TMC)
16 is just a scrambled HBO Bleedover till they figure some other purpose
17 is Home Box Office (HBO)
18 is Showtime (SHOW)
22 is Disney (DIS)
24-is Cinemax (MAX)


If you do not have either HBO or SHOW then you are not getting the signal
to begin with; it isn't scrambled just TRAPPED.  Thus you must find where
the installer's box is (usually Big and Green with over 25 cable's
running into it and usually found in your on the telephone pole in your
alley.)  Trace the cable from your house, apt. (this is sometimes not
necessary because the end cable's are marked with your apt or house.) 
Unscrew the cable and remove a TRAP cylinder, this is long and silver.
and reconnect the cable.


                  ????????????????????   
trap           ????                  ????
cylinder?      ?? ?                  ? ??
               ????                  ????
                  ????????????????????



I would advise one rather than just removing the cylinder, you get a 
'dummy' trap and do a switcheroo with your real trap; thus no one is the
wiser. This will obtain you both HBO and SHOW.

The signal for DIS and TMC is JAMMED, that is, injected with garbage
transmission at the box.  This gives you a beeping noise and lines on
that particular channel. To get DIS and TMC, you can take (if there is
one) a very small cylinder from a neighbor's cable run that says PMO by
PICO Co.; this is a filter for the DIS and TMC; also you may just use a
Channel 3 notch filter, they both work.  If you don't care about picture
quality and want a quick, cheap alternative, do the following:

  Examine the back of the TV set and find the VHF antenna terminals.  Get 
  a piece of antenna wire (thin flat brown stuff NOT THE SUPER INSULATED 
  TYPE, Radio Shack 15-004 is the best) and attach a three foot length to 
  the VHF terminals (do not disconnect the matching transformer which  
  the CATV cable is connected to.)  Tune into TMC (15) or DIS (22) and    
  adjust the fine tuner until you get the clearest picture.  Cut off about 
  1/4" of the antenna wire and adjust the fine tuner again.  Continue to 
  do this until you get a good picture.  (YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE TO CUT OFF 
  MORE THAN 6" OF THE ANTENNA WIRE.)  Get a piece of aluminum foil about 
  1" square and wrap it around the antenna wire and slide it up and down 
  until you have a pretty good picture.  This may take awhile to get       
  perfect.

As for MAX, this is scrambled by Gated-Sync scrambling. But these are
scrambled by flipping the picture, then inverting it, and a simple gated
sync descrambler can be built.  Call D&D Electronics at 1-800-332-3557
and have them send you their latest catalog.  They sell three
descramblers you can use which are from Radio-Electronics articles. 
The descramblers are $29, $39, and $59 for the best one.

CHICAGO CABLE TV DOESN'T KNOW THIS, BUT if you have the Hamlin
converter, channel 65 is a gated-sync display of TMC! Build a gated-sync
descrambler and then get TMC and MAX and fuck getting DIS (as an
alternative to getting a c.3 filter!)  Also, channel 66 is an almost
perfect display of SHOW without sound.  Adjust the fine tuning on your
TV to get it perfect, then build the FM stereo outlet in the following
paragraph, and have cheap, quick SHOW!

Chicago Cable TV thinks the average catv subscriber is an idiot.  Since
this is true, they offer 'FM STEREO OUTPUT' for stereo output on your
receiver for selected channels.  They charge some really fuckin
outrageous fee (like $30 or something) to install this.  ANY idiot can
get these with parts from Radio Shit for under $10.  Simply obtain the
following parts:

15-1141 Hybrid Splitter ($3.95)
15-1140 Matching transformer ($2.79)
appropriate lengths of coax cable, one short, one long

After getting the materials, set up as seen in the diagram:



                      ??????                    ????????????????
                      ? out???? ________________?              ?
????????????????   ????    ????                 ?  Cable Box   ?
cable from wall??? ?in?    ?                    ?              ?         
????????????????   ????    ????  _____          ?              ?
                      ? out????        \        ?              ?
                      ??????            ?       ????????????????
                   hybrid splitter      ?
                                        ?
                                        ? 
                                        ?
                                       ???
                                      ?????
                                      ?   ?
                                      ?   ?
                  75-300 ohm matching ?   ?
                      transformer     ?   ?
                                      ?   ?
                                      ?????
                                      /   \
                                     /     \
                                    /       \
                                   /         \
                                  
                           attach these to ends to the FM
                           antenna screws on the back of
                           your fm receiver. (300 ohm inputs)


NOTE 1: Do not connect antenna wire AND cable wire at same time to back
of receiver, or this will result in very fuzzy reception for the cable
frequencies and normal radio freq.'s.

NOTE 2: If you are already paying for the FM service, you can cancel it
and do the above to re-attach it. They will explain to you that if they
send one of their highly qualified techs out to disconnect it, it will
cost you $25 for the service call. If you ask them if you can do it
yourself, they will tell you yes and to disconnect the 75-300 ohm
transformer from the radio and bring it into the office on Western Ave. 
Since you are leaving the 2 way coupler and coax cable, on the way back
from the office drop by Radio Shack and pick up a new transformer. You
won't need anything else.

Another thing is don't lose any sleep about them catching you with an
illegal tap on the line.  Unless you are stupid enough to let them in to
inspect the wiring there really is no other way for them to know. The
system they installed so far is not  setup for "line testing" so it is
next to impossible for them to detect it from outside of the house. Also
note that the fm-service cannot be cut-off like they do if
ya have a non-authorized remote control.

Here are the frequencies to tune into with the FM outlet hookup:
 HBO  88.9FM
 SHOW 89.5FM
 MTV  90.1FM 
 VH1  90.9FM 
 USA  92.1FM 
 TNN  93.5FM 
 DIS  94.9FM
 TMC  95.9FM
You can still receive the sound on FM for any premium services you may
not otherwise have.


For those of you a little more advanced and have your own idea's
here is some important info. you will need.

Cable Channel Frequencies.
--------------------------

Chn No.     Freq. Range     Video     Color      Audio
-------------------------------------------------------
 2          54-60           55.25     58.83      59.75
 3          60-66           61.25     64.83      65.75
 4          66-72           67.25     70.83      71.75
 5          76-82           77.25     80.83      81.75
 6          82-88           83.25     86.83      87.75
 7          174-180         175.83    178.83     179.75
 8          180-186         181.25    184.83     185.75
 9          186-192         187.25    190.83     191.73
10          192-198         193.25    196.83     197.75
11          198-204         199.25    202.83     203.75
12          204-210         205.25    208.83     209.75
13          210-216         211.25    214.83     215.75
14          120-126         121.25    124.83     125.75
15          126-132         127.25    130.83     131.75
16          132-138         133.25    136.83     137.75
17          138-144         139.25    142.83     143.75
18          144-150         145.25    148.83     149.75
19          150-156         151.25    154.83     155.75
20          156-162         157.25    160.83     161.75
21          162-168         163.25    166.83     167.75
22          168-174         169.25    172.83     173.75
23          216-222         217.25    220.83     221.75
24          222-228         223.25    226.83     227.75
25          228-234         229.25    232.83     233.75
26          234-240         235.25    238.83     239.75
27          240-246         241.25    244.83     245.75
28          246-252         247.25    250.83     251.75
29          252-258         253.25    256.83     257.75
30          258-264         259.25    262.83     263.75
31          264-270         265.25    268.83     269.75
32          270-276         271.25    274.83     275.75
33          276-282         277.25    280.83     281.75
34          282-288         283.25    286.83     287.75
35          288-294         289.25    292.83     293.75
36          294-300         295.25    298.83     299.75
37          300-306         301.25    304.83     305.75
38          306-312         307.25    310.83     311.75
39          312-318         313.25    316.83     317.75
40          318-324         319.25    322.83     323.75
41          324-330         325.25    328.83     329.75
42          330-336         331.25    334.83     335.75
43          336-342         337.25    340.83     341.75
44          342-348         343.25    346.25     347.46
45          348-354         349.25    352.83     353.75
46          354-360         355.25    358.83     359.75
47          360-366         361.25    364.83     365.75
48          366-372         367.25    370.83     371.75
49          372-378         373.25    376.83     377.75
50          378-384         379.25    382.83     383.75
51          384-390         385.25    388.83     389.75
52          390-396         391.25    394.83     395.75
53          396-402         397.25    400.83     402.75
54           72-78           73.25     76.83      77.75
55           78-84           79.25     82.83      83.75
56           84-90           85.25     88.93      89.73
57           90-96           91.46     94.47      95.48
58           96-102          97.25    100.83     101.75
59          102-108         103.25    106.83     107.75
60          108-114         109.25    112.83     113.75
61          114-120         115.25    118.83     119.75
-------------------------------------------------------

All and all eventually you will have all the locked channels
otherwise not viewable! Hope this has helped..........

All this information was tried with the Hamlin convertor box, which is
most widely used by Chicago Cable.  If you have a Scientific Atlanta or
another convertor, some of the above applications may vary or may not
work; please leave me info on them so I can add to this file as I get more
info.  Additional information will be added to THIS file as collected. 
If you have info for me to add to this or have found something to be
incorrect, please contact me, The Beastmaster, on DESTINY KNIGHTS 708-
307-3768 or catch me somehow else.

 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EOF