TAP No. 17 - Red Box, Line Relay, Don't Get Busted

THE YOUTH INTERNATIONAL PARTY LINE MARCH-APRIL 1873 AMMO Glancing through the back issues of the NY TIMES from January 1971 to the present has unearthed enough worms in Ma Bell's earth to plant a million seeds of rebellion. Among tke strong points in favor of our arguments that Ma Bell bas been a major force in moving this country towards inflation is the fact that AT&T deceided to raise the rates for TV program transmission. The rate increase affected all the TV networks, The rise in rates was passed on by the network corporations to the station's commerical sponsors. In many cases the sponsors passed the rate increase on to the consumers. Not only did commerical time cost more, but there was also a noticable increase in the amount of commericals on the network programs. FTC commissioner Jones replied, "TV commericals tend to suggest that use of the advertised product will solve listeners problems and fulfill their ambitions. I see no need to regulate. ".:. Question of the month, has AT&T collected that 1.15 million dollar pbone bill owed ‘by the Democratic party since the 1968 convention?... The following are phone facts as reported to the NY TIMES .». Directory assistance service in 1970 reached 497 million, estimates for 1980 are placed at 840 million... Did you know that Ma Bell will soon be charging by the message unit all calls placed to information ? AT&T now says the reason for charging for info calls is to drop the work force by 8% (about 8000 people) to meet the rising costs (sicl)... J. Billingsley, a Bell rep, says the phone company is not hiring to reduce the work force...AT&T spent 7.6 Billion dollars on new facilities in 1972... Last year the NYC PSC ordered NY TEL to pay 1,50 monthly rebate to worst service. The company estimated total rebate paid at 15 million annually. ..- FTC study of America's 20 largest cities finds service in Bklyn ranking LAST!...NY TEL, otherwise known as NY MA BELL, holds 23 million dollars in deposits for its customers, yet only has 20 million in debts. This practice goes on in many places around the country...and there has been a growing number of complaints againist the high deposit rates, ..A US Senate sub-committee on intergov't relations reported that the Pentagon was willing to provide auditors needed by the FCC to carry out its investigation of AT&T rate structures. It seems that every Hime there is going to be a rate increase the FCC turns its back and uses the excuse that they do not have sufficient money and manpower to investigate. (It's rapidly becoming a trite cliche)...Now, a few months later we pick up the NY TIMES and read a article dated July 22, which states that the Pentagon's telephone bill went up by 4.7 million dollars a year. The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Kompany won the increase Nov. 17 from the Virginia CC, but federal officals obtained a restraining order preventing it from taking effect. The federals argued that the rate increase violated the supremacy clause of the United States Constitution. However, the panel ruled that the supremacy clause was not violated ‘because there was no evidence that the state of Virginia was attempting to restrict the operations of the Federal gov't. The Pentagon, which is situated in Virginia across the Potomac River from Washington now must pay a long distance rate for all calls going into the capital. - 4 Ny £ aN no.17 v DON’T GET BUSTED! Phone phreaking, perhaps more than any other pastime, requires a great deal of savoir faire. If you want to be free to phreak, you have to know how to watch your step. ‘There is a definite art to speaking on the telephone. For example: it simply isn't cool to call up a friend and speak openly about illegal activities. The chancés of a phreak's call being tapped are significant, and your friend won't appreciate it either. Wait for operators to click off before ‘peeping. “Other common sense rules include not giving out the names and numbers of other phreaks or those places where phone phreaks hang out or buy their equipment. Listen always for the operator to click off, and even then never assume the line is completely cool. Also remember short frequent calls are more effective than long calls. The fewer times you continue to use the Same phone location the cooler it is also. Many of the phone phreaks whom we know have been dusted have known common sense rules in general, but trusted too many people into their confidence. As a rule never let too many people know you are a phone phreak; informing by others is the most common bust. Sometimes these informants turn out to be "friends", If you suspect someone is going to bust you stop phreaking for a while. - This goes for any suspicions you might have. If you feel heat merely stop phreaking or find a totally new location. If you are approached by Ma Bell just say, "I want to talk to my lawyer first." That's all! You do not have to say anything without a.lawyer. Find a lawyer you can relate to; it is not to advisable to rap with an ex-DA, Remember above all that using your home phone for blue boxes is the easiest way to bave Ma Bell come Imocking at your door. Play it cool, and don't pay. ‘The People's Bicentennial Commission is a group working towards a Bicentennial celebration that is not the Corporate sales ripoff or the Pro-Adminis- tration indoctrination that the American Legion and the White House are attempting to put over on us. Rather, PBC is pushing for a nationwide education on what the values of the American Revolution and the Constitution really were, and how they've been lost. Write to them at 1346 Connecticut Ave. NW, Wash. , dc. 20036, Tell ‘em Tommy Jefferson sent you. RED BOX PHREAKS!I GREETINGS On the single-slot coin phones I have frequently been able to yet a dial tone by putting in a nickel and giving the hookswitch a short tap (this takes practice). The dial won't work, though, so you will have to tap out 211 to get the operator. 1 have built a red box using an oscillator, a telephone earpiece, and an AE phone dial. The shorting contacts of the dial are used to turn on the oscillator when the dial is off normal, and the break contacts are used to short out the output of the oscillater except during the tone pulses. Nickel, dime, and quarter sounds are made by dialing 1,2, and 5 respectively. (although - _ #6 seems to sound better as a quarter). On my phone line whenever you dial a toll call (including 800 and info), the polarity of the line is reversed for about a second. If a diode is wired into the line so that it conducts only when the polarity is normal, the phone will be electrically hung up whenever a long distance call is made & can be used like a "dial-lock" but this device is foolproof (but only for long distance), -H.G, NY- ORMALLY-O PEN ‘Wiat Conracts NORMALLY-CLOSED BIAL CONTACTS + jour our Just THink WHAT 6 yoy coutd 00 STORY & if you owNED WIRES CIRCLING THE TELEPHONE: EARPIECE ENTIRE Planet ! ee, ED. NOTE: For those of you who want to make a Simple and reliable red box, we show a schematic of an oscillator and amplifier and telephone dial, It is basically the same as last montis red box, except that a telephone dial replaces the flip-flop and timer, thus mechanically producing the tones, All resistors are half watt 10%. Transistor is 2N2222, SK3020 or Hep 54. 30K trimmer is used to adjust frequencies to match that of a pay phone. Remember, pay phone tones are best heard on another phone that has called the pay phone. When listening to an actual pay phone, keep in mind that a quarter produces faster beeps than ° a nickel or dime, Adjust the speed of the dial to Produce accurate nickels or dimes. Then simply force dial to return faster for the quarter (it takes a little practice). If you don't know how to adjust the speed of the dial here's how it's done: on the back of the dial is a governor which looks like a disc brake. The semi-circular brake shoes slow down the dial when not held in tightly by the spring. Tighten the spring for faster dial return. This is tricky on the enclosed governors, but it can be done. Our Red Box circuit of last month isn't perfect, and we've got a few improvements, First, change the value of the 2.2K flip-flop resistors to 10K ohms. This will cut down your battery drain to less than 4 milliamps. Secondly, if you're getting strange extra pulses when you continue holding a button down, try putting a 25 mfd. capacitor right across the battery. Finally, if you experience incomplete turn-on or turn- off of the tones, change the 22K timer output resistor to 4aTK, If you want to build a red box but don't know how, YIPI will publish next morith instructions for recording the tones perfectly on a cassette tape recorder. Any inexpen sive unit will work, but it's easiest to use a cassette wit manual recording level controls. BUILD A LINE RELAY 5 mfd. R To RED AND GREEN PHONE LINE WIRES ‘The Line Relay is a simple yet interesting device you can put on your phone line. It will do almost anything you want when your phone rings, such as turn ona light, answer the phone, turn off your stereo, etc, We will show some extension projects in future issues. ‘The phone ringing is 90 volts AC , often superimpos- ed on 45 volts DC, This 90 volts will operate a 115 V AC relay, which can in turn supply power from the power lines to any ordinary appliance. The relay is commonly available. However, a capacitor is needed to DC isolate the relay coil from phone line. Without DEAR YIPL On the new type pay phones (single slot) you can make a local 10 cent call for a nickel! Just when it's about to hit the triggering mechanism bang on the dial then bang it a few more times than tap the reciever button till you get your dial tone. When you hear the dial tone the dial will not react to it so dial by hitting the reciever button. For example, if the number is 648-6003 tap the button 6 times-4 times-8 times and so on waiting a few seconds between each number. You can also get the number by tapping it 10 times for Operator, in some areas-you can get the Operator by tapping out 211, . -P, R. BROOKLYN- Just THink WHAT You couLo Do iF you were Evernywnene! WO dy CONTINUED NEXT H! 400V CAPACITOR TO WALL SOCKET it the relay will draw a dial tone even with the phone on-hook, The capacitor should be non-electrolytic, and as many microfarads as possible; 5 should do nicely, ced contacts of the relay can operate any circuit you want. The diagram shows how the normally- open and the normally-closed contacts can be used to light Lamp B and extinguish(a good word to know) Lamp A when the phone rings. In order to prevent the relay from "chattering" (vibrating rapidly up & down) you can loosen the relay spring slightly or increase the size of the capacitor. DEAR YIPL The call back no. in Chicago is 571-6, its the only Imown no, in existence. Also some new loop nos, work on the supervised-unsupervised method. The last four digits are 9973-74. Any exc. between 271 and 973 are effective. For those that care, here are some switchman nos, (all of this is Chi-town) ED4-9952, LA5-9952. Just screw around with the - exchanges and use 9952, and your bound to come up with a switchman somewhere in this city. Also for those who might like to know,a majority of the system here works on cross 1 paneling. I'm sorry at the passing of the party in N. Y., back in January. I know, I hung on the night they fucked around with the volume. But no need to worry, I'm in the process of establishing a party line in Chicagol -B from CHICAGO- Also: the telephone co. news wire service no, printed in issue no. 16 is not free, Here's one in Cl though that is. (312) 368-8000. Listen in on the Bullshit, SUGGESTION: There is one F, F, who has modified a card dialer to send out mf and it sounds fantastic. Can you find out the plans for this modification? T would like to see a circuit for an automatic Sending blue box that can be programmed and then at the press of a button will send mf at exactly the correct speed and for the proper duration with a f-—~ programmed wait for overseas sender. -ANYWHERE USA- DEAR YIPL In the Boulder, Colorado and Denver area dial free 1-200-555-1212 to hear the telephone computer rélate your phone number, It could be useful for, tapping lines, -AC COLORADO-. - Dear YIPL, I have found out one way to make all the long-distance calls you want from your or your friend's home phone, provided it's not bugged. The desired number is dialed direct. As soon as you hear a click, push down the hang up button several times very quickly for a second or two. An operator should come on the. line shortly because ap- parently by pushing the button you mess up the equipment that is trying to identify your line. Give the operator a number other than your own, but with the same prefix. It is best to use a number that's not in service or of a pay Phone so the phone co. won't try to find out who called the number. I tried in Houston, but it didn't work. If it works in your locality-then great! Use it to make long 800 and information calls appear on other people's records, too. Keep up the great work, -SW TEXAS- In August of 1970 I called up information and got a man on the line, He said he was information and after a while I got him to tell me how he got on the line. He told me all you have to do is call 411, wait for the assistant to hang up, and just hold on to the line. Well, I did this and to my surprise people would come on the line asking for information. The line would be complete- ly silent between callers and I wouldn't have to hang up. There was just a click and I knew someone else was. on the line. I did this for 3 days. After that, since 1970 I haven't been able to do it, If anyone knows of this happening, I hope they can tell me how it can be done now. Also, during the same time period, I used to dial 830-7267 and the line was dead. Once in a while I would hear two people then talk to each other. Any more numbers that do that anymore? -S, BKLN, N.Y. - DEAR YIPL I was reading your article on the T network for Pay stations, You can also place free local calls from a prepay station by lifting the receiver and grounding one side of the line. It operates the coin relay allowing you to dial out. BACK ISSUES-50¢ 1- Extensions, conference switches 2- Blue Box Story and Abbie on ripoffs 3- Telecommand Story 4- Pay Phone Issue = Hine Box 3 > Now obsolete(Issue 12) ‘T- Tuning your organ 8- Credit card calls and 1972 code 5 Super Duper Project,(See issue 11) 10- 11-Receiving long distance calls free 12-Blue Box Plans 7 13-International Calls & Box Plans 1 14-International Calls & AT&T Papers 15-1973 Credit Code, T Network 16-Red Box Plans FACT SHEETS-25¢ How not to get caught making credit calis Receiving long distance calls Free(Issue 11) ANTI-BELL BUTTON- 50¢ 10/$3. 00 DESTRUCTORY ASSISTANCE-Free, just send as much info as you want back ina stamped, self-addressed envelope. Renew if your address has a 8_or less on it. YIPL, Room418,/152 W. 42 St.,N.¥.,N. Y. 10036 Mailing address" ‘only, don't send cash, PLEASE! Dear YIPL- Here is some info you might be interested in: L.A, TEST NUMBERS (213) . Reverse Battery Test Prefix-1-Prefix(ex: 555-1-555) 1000 cps Tone Prefix+0002(ex:XXX-0002) Ascending Tone(No charge) 651-0003, 277-9291, 783-0001 Pacific Telephone Inter-Com: Numbers. Switchroom XXX+0000 Tour Office- 621-1779 Frames XXX+0005 Newsline - 621-4141 Hollywood Verifying 467-1111 Beverly Hills, Culver City Verifying 837-1111 Santa Monica 394-1111 (No Charge) Long Distance Test Board 624-9131 L.A, Trouble Report Center for broken cables 620-5700 Television Control Room(NBC, ABC, CBS) 629-6458 For people theat call radio stations(for contests and request lines) that bave 520 (Prefix) numbers and have problems getting through. Put the "900" area before the number(ex: 900-520-XXXxX) for people out of L. A. ‘This is a way to call the station for FREE, - POPULAR L,A, TELEPHONE RECORDINGS ZZZZ2ZZ- 836-5566 RECCO- 836-2125 "TT"- 391-1111 "R= 454-1904 986-9800- Supsr Fone ~B. LOS ANGELES- DEAR YIPL While living at an Indian Reservation I learned an old Apache phone phreak technique. Simply take a penny and rub it down to the size of a dime. ‘The pavement works well. -JK ARIZONE- DEAR YIPL, Take some plaster of paris and drop a quarter into it. Let it harden, and then very gently take out the quarter. You should have a smooth and accurate mold, Now fill with water and put into the freezer compart- ment of your refrigerator. When the water freezes you have a piece of ice you can use in all sorts of machines. Sorhetimes foil or other insulator is used to make it easy to pull out the ice. -BB MISSISSIPFI- Published for informational purposes only by The Youth International Party Line.