TAP No. 30 - Party Lines, Fortress Extension & Locks

NOVEMBER 1975 THE PARTY’S OVER by tom edison On Sept 29,1975, N J Bell discontinued all 4-party line service. Bell customers were given the choice of either 2-party line or private line service, at an increase in price, of course. Bell stated in their propoganda ad that increased costs of operating 4-party line service forced them to take this action. We all know the real reason, however, namely that Pa Bell wishes to squeeze its customers a little mo. and force them to pay more money for the same lousy ser- vice. But take heart, all you N J Bell customers- Pa Bell's greed will only add to his defeat! By forcing us to use a private line, Pa Bell has now made it possible for everyone to have a working Black Box on their phones. Previously, it was risky to use a Black Box ona 4-party line because if any one of the other three parties picked up their phone while you were boxing a call, the box circuit would be in- operative and the caller would be charged for the call. With a private line this cannot happen. Another problem that plagued 4-party line users was the connection of extension phones, The extension ringer would ring whenever any one of the other three partys' phones were called. Due to the unique way the party line phones were connected to the main Tip and Ring lines, all of the party line phones had one side of the ringer going to ground (yellow wire). The other side of the ringer w as connected through a cold cathode tube (which acts like a solid state rectifier diode) to either the Tip(-) green wire or the Ring (+) red wire. Phones A and B had the cold cathode tube connected so that they passed only + pulses and phones C Cand D had the cold cathode tube connected so that they passed only - pulses. Thus a positive pulse on the Tip line rang only phone A, + on Ring rang B, - on Tip rang C, and - on Ring rang D. Another way that ringing was done on 4-party lines was by the use of frequency selective ringers. Each ringer would then only respond to its own frequency. Frequencies ranged from 16 Hz to 66 Hz. ‘And while we're mentioning extension phones, let's not forget that playing with your phone and adding on the var- ious accessories that we've shown in past issues is half the fun of having a phone, something that Pa Bell just does not want to share with you. Many of you are probably a little paranoid about doing anything to your phone and this paranoia is partially justified for Pa Bell does make unan- nounced house calls to replace phone cords, dial plates and transmitter mouthpieces as part of their "service" to their customers and how would it look if theycame into your home and saw all kinds of goodies and wires coming out of your phone? No. 30 The obvious answer: INSTALL AN EXTENSION PHONE. for fun, profit and experimentation. And now that Pa Bell has FORCED private lines on us, all you have to do to con~ nect an extension phone is to connect it to the red and green phone line wires. For any kind of dial phone the line polarity doesn't matter; the phone will work with the wires connected red to red, or red to green. However, on Touch Tone phones, polarity is important because transistors in the oscillator circuit must have the voltage of the correct polarity or it will not work, In N J Pa Bell is very sneaky and the red phone wire must be connected to the green Tip line and the green phone wire must be connected to the red Ring line for operation of a Touch Tone phone. In N J the red Ring wire is positive and the green Tip wire is negative. The red Ring wire is also connected to ground at the Cen- tral Office. The phone wires usually go to the basement where they are connected to the lightning arrestors in homes and panel junction boxes in apartments. While this is a very nice easy access point to attach your extension wires, it is also one of the key checkpoints for phone men and as such should be avoided. The wires then run up from the basement to the floor junction box from which the phone gets its connecting line. Pa Bell, ina feeble attempt to frustrate do-it-yourseli- ers, is now using clear vinyl covered wires, thereby elim- inating the old standard red and green wires. Don't let this worry you. Remember, if your phone doesn't work one way simply reverse the wires and call away. The best place to hook into the lines is between the basement and the floor junction box. A good way to hide your splice is to cover jt with a large carpet and then nail it down. Pa Bell is pretty cheap with his wire but if you can pull down a little excess from the basement, attach your two extension wires and then pull up the whole mess so that nothing shows, you're in, An excellent wire to use is the flat 300 ohm twin lead used for TV antennas. It's very easy to hide, and even if it's spotted it'll look like a TV antenna lead-in wire. It's also a good electrical impedance match to the phone line. Once you've got the extension lines run to where you want the phone located, terminate the extension line in a stand- ard 4 hole floor jack. You can now simply plug in your ex- tension phone, or if you want, plug in your various acces- sories, One of the best ways to plug in accessories is to use a jack-in-a-plug which is a standard 4 prong plug at one end and a standard 4 hole jack at the other end. With this great device you'll be able to plug your accessories into the floor phone jack and then plug your phone into the accessory jack. © Youth Hot Line Reports, Inc. 1975-.Do not make checks out to Youth Hot Line Reports please. Movement groups may reprint without permission with TAP's address inclu- ded, and please send us a copy of reprinted work. Warning: We will prosecute violators. FORTRESS FUN by tom edison A Fortress makes an excellent extension phone. Should you come across one lying in the road or sticking out of a trash barrel behind TPC's office, it is your public duty to remove this hazard to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. Once you have sneaked it safely into your home and are satisfied that the men from Department "S" have not seen you getting a hernia as you carried it down the street wrapped ina blanket, you may safely unwrap it for closer inspection. There are four wires connected to the Fortress. For home use, connect the red Ring phone line to the red wire and the green Tip phone line to the green wire. The ringer is across the red and green wires so that you can receive incoming calls simply by lifting the receiver off the hook. In order to make a call, however, you must deposit 10¢ but have no fear, since it's your phone and you're playing operator, simply connect the output of a power supply capable of generating a + 50 vdc, at 40 ma. to the yellow ground wire and the negative side of the power supply to the green Tip or red Ring wire. This 50 vdc. pulse (neg- ative with respect to ground) will drop the deposited coins into the coin return slot. A positive 50 vde. pulse sent down either the Tip or Ring wire will drop the coins into the coin box, a definite no-no, especially if you don't hap- pen to have it open yet. One reader suggested carrying a regular phone into a pay phone booth, splicing into the pay phone wires, and dialing away. This will not always work because Pa Bell does not put 48 vde, battery on the line until you deposit money. When you deposit money, you trip a switch which places a 10kohm resistance between the yellow ground wire and the green Tip wire which completes a loop which operates a relay at the CO which then places 48 vdc. battery on the line. If you ever have to make a life ordeath emergency call and you don't have any change but you do have a 10kohm resistor and a portable telephone with you, try splitting open the pay phone wire and connecting the 10kohm resistor that has an alligator clip on each end between the yellow and green wires of the pay phone. This should get you bat- tery on the red and green wires. Connect your portable phone (also equipped with alligator clips) to the red and green wires and make your emergency call. Tf you ever have to make another emergency call and you forget to bring along your 10kohm resistor, you might try depositing 5¢ without picking up the receiver. This again should get you battery on the red and green wires. Hook up your portable phone and dial. To get your 5¢ back (you cheap bastard) you might try connecting a 50 volt battery + terminal to the yellow wire and - terminal to either the red or green wire. Remember to use these techniques only for life or death emergencies, like to order a pizza or to place a bet with your neighborhood bookie (who, if he's smart, is using a cheese box circuit shown in issue #20). ACHTUNG! Beginning in the next issue, we will feature a column "ASk Mr. Phelps". Send in your questions and he will try to answer them. Mr. Phelps' field is mechanical devices and metalworking - research and development - and con- spiracy masterminding. Questions on electronics will be given to Barney. If you send a deposit to his bank account in Zurich, he will make an all-out, maximum effort to answer you. TELEPHONE LOCKS We often fantasize about "picking the lock" or "getting a master key". Well, you can forget about it. I don't like to discourage people, but it will save you from wasting a lot of time - time which can be put to better use (heh, heh). If these were "the good old days", it would be different. The old three slotters used a simple lever tumbler "locker" or "mailbox" lock which could be picked with a couple of mod- ified Allen wrenches (accept no substitutes). Old timers tell me they hit two or three boxes every day. They always contained at least $75 each, and that was back when the $ was worth something and the coins were silver, It was too good to last. Whatever else I think of The Phone Company, I must admit that they learn from their mistakes. TPC added a tubular lock. It was smaller in diameter that the standard Ace so one couldn't use the regular blank and key machine. To pick it, one had to make a very special pick, instead of buying it. Then TPC brought out the Fortress Phone. The lock has a hardened surface and the frame has hardened stain- less steel inserts, It is an eight lever type and highly pick resistant. Only seven hundred have been picked in the country, according to a report in an AT&T house organ a couple of years ago. Each of the eight levers has five positions, so 5°=390, 625 possible keys. There is no such thing as a master key for this type of lock. It is difficult to pick because when you throw each lever, it is easy to throw it too far and it jams and you have to start all over. The most practical method is to train fleas to crawl inside the locks and read the sizes of the levers and then fit indi- vidual keys to each lock. One often sees Fortresses bearing indications of unsuc- cessful assaults. Attacking one with a chisel or crowbar is a waste of time and energy. The picture of the back of the cover plate shows how formidable it is. You will note that hardened stainless steel bolts lock into all four sides, But like any safe, the Fortress has its vulnerable areas. When someone (I wonder who?) puts epoxy in the lock, TPC has to open it somehow without destroying the whole thing, so they drill in the proper places through the cover and the rotating plate, which are not hardened, Where do TPC's employees drill? Well, I imagine they might drill out the stop at A', drill and punch out the pin atC!, and drill away the four places marked D. This would permit the one side bolt to be retracted and permit the plate to rotate, retract- ing the other three. An alternative method might be to drill and punch out the four pins, but the stops at A prevent the bolts from moving in the guides B. If they then drill out the stops A, I believe the four bolts can be retracted man- ually. Gravity helps the top one but hinders the bottom one. The extension on the side (left in picture) remains in either case and may necessitate use of a crowbar. Tam not suggesting that anyone use a battery powered electric drill with quality cobalt high speed drill bits (not Canal Street Japanese junk) to rob TPC, Whether the amount of work and risk required is worth it is something only the prospective perpetrator can decide. However, if you are determined to lead a life of crime, it is advisable to determine how much money is in the box before proceed- ing. This will cost you 10¢ or a slug. Make a phone call and when the coin drops into the box, you can tell how full it is by how it sounds. If it bounces off the bottom, it is empty; if it quietly slushes in, heh, heh... One still finds the old three slotters without Ace locks in some rural areas. GTE, I believe, uses pin tumbler locks on the left side of the Fortress. Any info you have about these would be appreciated. Offhand, I would guess they are reasonably easy to pick, though not as easy as is shown on TV. Mr. Phelps TOP Right side when viewed from outside 5 3/4" 4 5/8" > Coin's eye view of Cover Plate Drawing may not be exact size due to alteration during printing process Letters From Readers Dear TAP, Theta the pay TV company has gotten wise to 2+8=Z (Issue #217) and put a scrambler on all non-Z lines. It's a resis- tance filled white box on the telephone pole where the house cable joins the main line. Easy to remove or to bypass its guts with a simple co-ax wire. So Z is still free if you can climb a telephone pole. -CALIFORNIA- Dear TAP, How elaborate a design do you seek for a radio jammer? You may know already that it takes a signal only slightly stronger than the "bonafide" one to completely block an FM station. You know about capture ratio...So, if one is sufficiently close to the victim receiver with his small FM oscillator, you can kill the legitimate broadcast (or even utility) service. I built a small (single) transistor oscil- lator, tunable, to kill the offending audio in the apartment next door. If you radiate a clean signal (no audio modu- lation) you can completely silence an FM set, I suspect the effort required on an AM station, to be successful, would be too great, needing much more power, not to mention antennas. Here, we rely on the nuisance value of heterodyning against the "bonafide" signal; it simply makes it difficult or unpleasant to hear, But, you don't wipe it out unless you're really hosing some power! Might as well concentrate only on FM stations. HMMM,,.It sure would take a lot of jammers to put the NYC pigs out of business, but it might be somewhat easier if one jammed their repeaters. Guess they have a few. -SINBAD- Inflation Hits TAP You know what that means, For four years we've kept the price at $2, which isn't much. Compare that to your monthly phone bill. Starting Dec. 1, bulk rate 10 issue subscriptions will be $4, the first-class sealed rate and Canada stapled rate will be $6, and the foreign surface rate will be $7. An establishment newletter of equal value would cost at least 5 times as much. Unlike them, we will continue to send free subscriptions to indigent students, prisoners, and others who explain to us why they can't afford to pay. So you won't think we're getting rich on it, here's what the money will be going for: Increased postage and printing costs, office expenses, and increasing our bail fund at the insistence of our more paranoid volunteers. Al Bell didn't want to raise the rate but finally agreed to, when we agreed not to defenestrate him. Here is our revised Destructory Assistance list. See previous issues for trading conditions. Phones Laws, Black, Blue, &Red Boxes Electronics Bell Reprints Chemistry Bugs and Scramblers Pol: Radio & TV Interesting phone #s Cuedit Cards Test numbers Installation & attachments Payphones Domestic & Foreign Codes Locks and Security Vending Macaines Slugs and Foreign Coins Personal Survival Ui ies (Electric & Gas) Miscellaneous We need info on: Vending Machines- locks, techniques for getting your money's worth, Locks- code books, picking methods, safe manipulation, sources of supply. Radio- pirate stations, jammers, etc. Cable TV- tapping into the line. tilities- info on N, J, Public Services' round ceramic electric meter seals. Burglar alarms- Holmes & other central station systems. Printing- methods, magnetic ink used in printing checks, etc. Published for informational purposes only by Youth Hot Line Reports, Inc. Address all mail and checks to - PAID TAP, ROOM S04, 152 W. 42 ST., N.Y,N.Y. 10036 @ Credit Card Scanner ‘A holographic memory unit that can check a credit card holder's rating within three seconds is now being manufactured in California. The device—which spells doom to con men or those who utilize stolen credit cards—is already being used by several hotel chains. In addition, some gambling casinos in Las Vegas have installed the rized mechanism is keyed to a laser beam and permits as many as 700,000 credit ratings to be put on a 30-foot strip of 35-millimeter film, ‘The memory unit is used only to keep track of bad credit risks. By inserting the credit card into the device, it ean be determined whether or not the card holder is on the list of bad risks. The International Teamster Back Issues-Listed by feature articles 50¢ each, 40¢ each if complete set is ordered. 1-Extensions, Conierence Switches 2-Blue Box Story and Abbie on Ripoffs 3-Telecommand Story 4-Pay Phone Issue ceed Early Model 7- Tuning your organ, 3-slot ripoffs 8-Credit Card Calls/1972 Code 9 10 Black Box ir 12 Blue Box Plans 13 Int'l calls & Codes, Bluebox plans 14 More codes, AT&T Papers, Ca. Test numbers 15 1973 Credit Card Code, T network 16 Red Box plans 17 Red Box, Line Relay, Don't Get Busted 18 Outgoing long distance call stopper 19 Snoop light, Taping Fortress tones 20 Cheese Box(Conference line, or loop-arounu) 21 Automatic Phone Tap, Convention Report 22 Answeroo, "How we catch Red Boxers" 23 Free Electricity 24 Fraud Detectors, Index of TAP issues, 1974 CC Code 25 New Red Box, Free Gas 26 New Bluebox, Con Ed key (also 23, 29) 27 Free Electricity, Blue Box Correction 28 Reading Computer bills, loop suffixes 29 Improved Bluebox & Snooplite, Int'l codes FACT SHEETS -25¢ each 1. Credit Card Calling Hints 2, Receiving Long Distance Calls Free (Same as Issue 11 for General Telephone Co. Customers instead of Bell Telephone Co.) Displayed Red Box 2600 Whistle Berieci 50¢ per set. 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