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THE VIOLET BOX
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Picture the scene ..... a payphone in a rural or suburban area, where
all the telephone wires are overhead ..... next to the phone box is a
telegraph pole with only one wire going down it ..... no prizes for
guessing where it goes to. It might at first sight look like a prime
site for beige boxing. However, there are obvious disadvantages to
beige boxing here, like getting caught ..... thus, the violet box was
created. Basically it is a way of emulating some beige box functions
without the actual beige box, but it does have the same requirement of
needing physical access to the line. *WARNING* The person on the other
end may very well twig you are using this device. Only phone people you
can trust.
HOW TO MAKE IT
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Get a 470 ohm resistor and a pair of crocodile clips. Connect a
crocodile clip to each end of the resistor. That's it. I was going to
call this the "yellow, violet and brown box" but I decided that name
was too long, so I'll stick to just violet, because it sounds nice.
HOW TO USE IT
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First, you need a beige boxing point that is not too far from the
phone. Clip one leg of the resistor on, leave the other end for the
time being. Lift the handset, put in your money and key the number. As
soon as it starts ringing out, it's action stations! Clip the other
side of the resistor on and dash back to the phone. Depress the
receiver rest for a few seconds, then let go. The person on the other
end might have answered while you were doing this, let's just hope they
didnd't hang up ..... anyway, you're now ready to talk. BUT every few
minutes the phone will go 'dead' for a few seconds ..... it won't cut
you off though.
HOW IT WORKS
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When a phone is on the hook it has a high resistance to DC and so
hardly any current flows through it. (but it has a low resistance to AC
because AC is what makes the bell ring.) When it is lifted, it has
quite a low resistance, actually about 600 ohms. The 470 ohm resistor
connected across the line fools the exchange into thinking the handset
was up the whole time. It has to be disconnected for dialling, because
pulse dialling (which is the only sort that works from payphones) works
by opening and closing the circuit to stop and start the flow of
current, so if the resistor was connected there the current would never
stop flowing, and no dialling pulses would be sent. When you connect
the resistor, the exchange just thinks there are 2 phones on the line,
it can handle up to 4 so it's no problem. Then you hang up the
payphone, now the exchange thinks there is just one phone; when you
lift the receiver again, the payphone is sitting across a line with
something already happening, so it just lets you listen to this. Of
course, after a while it decides it's had enough of that, and tries to
cut you off. But it doesn't manage it, because the resistor is keeping
the line in use. The phone may be able to ring the exchange and report
the "fault" but it can't even do that until after you have disconnected
the resistor and made a getaway .....
ALTERNATIVE USE
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If you also have a beige box, and access to an enemy's phone wiring
outside the house (eg. the wires from a telegraph pole) you might like
to try this use for the violet box ..... this can SERIOUSLY do people
over ..... beige box from their line to anything, but the more
expensive and embarrassing the service, the better ..... Australian
kinky sex lines? the mind boggles ..... anyway, stick the violet box
on, disconnect the beige box and run like hell.
Brought to you by ...... . .... . . ... .....
: :..: :.. :.' .:.......:.
: : : :... : `. `... .:...
disclaimer: this is for informational purposes only. no responsibility
is accepted for any consequences of use or misuse of any information
contained herein. any material whose source i have not acknowledged is
believed to be my own - if it sounds like something you invented, just
remember great minds think alike.