TAP No. 79 - Blue Box Equipment and Usage

Blue Box Equipment And Usage Pred Steinbeck Por al] you blue box tans out there, here are a aumber of parts and part sources for your little levices that you may be interested in. Also in this rticle are some comments on Nick Haflinger and Ted 11's blue (green) box in issue number 68, and the use of blue boxes in the Bay Area. Speakers Many phreaks-are fond of using telephone earpieces as speakers for their boxes. This has some advantages, as the high resistance (“100 ohms) causes less power to be drawn. However, getting the little SOB's out of pay phones is close to impossible. Portunately, Frinetics, Inc. (55807 Currant Road / Mishawaka, Indiana 46544 / (219) 259-8535 (yes, they accept phoned COD orders)) makes what they call the PC-48 inductive coupler. ‘This is a thing which fits around the earpiece of your phone, and with a four foot cord to an 1/8* phono plug, gets hooked up to your box. Tones are then played into the phone with little or no fuss or mu: ‘The PC-48 can also be used to record calls, and costs $10.00. As some of you may remember, this was first mentioned in an earlier issue of TAP. There is, however, a problem with the inductive coupler. In order for it to be loud enough to be heard, you need a great deal of power. This is probably just because inductive couplers are not as efficient as speakers. Keyboards For me, €inding a good 4x4 matrix keypad was a bit of a problem. However, Advanced Computer Products, Inc. (P.O. Box 17329 / Irvine, CA / (800) 854-8230 or (714) 558-8813 inside CA (No COD orders)) has solved my problems, if only temporarily. They offer, for $10.00, a FlexSwitch 4x4 keypad (black with white unmarked keys) which is only 0.03 inches thick! Unfortunately, the beastie measures 4" on a side. Too large, in my opinion. Another solution may be on the horizon, however. Grayhill, Inc. (569 Hillgrove Ave. / La Grange W1linois, 60525 / (312) 35. number of 4x4 (and other) keyboards which are only 2" on a side. A vast improvement. I don't know if Grayhili sells directly, as I haven't talked with them yet, but I am sure they would be happy to tell you who you could buy their products from. The Green Box in #68 In issue number 68, Nick and Ted's article on the green box was printed, along with a set of schematics for such a creature. There are a few comments I would like to make on this schematic. The LW 747 Output Pin In the schematic, one of the outputs of the LM 747 op-amp {5 not numbered on the diagram ({.e., there is no pin number going with that output). Just to set the record straight, it should be pin number 12. If you have issue #68, you might want to make the correction now, to save time later. Op-anps In General For ay version of the the green box an LM386 op-amp. This produces 400 milivatts, which is‘more than the LM747 can produce. The LM386, however, has a problem when it comes to biasing correctly. Why, I don't know. I'm using Parts For It I have had trouble finding 40103's around here. Again, Advanced Computer Products (address above) saved my neck. They carry 40103's, they just don't advertise them. They cost $4.25 each. If someone could find a better (pronounced “cheaper”) place, Please let us 411 know. TAP Re Fh a New York 10036 AP wT” NOVEMBER 1982 No.79 Fred Steinbeck Issue I managed to get a couple 27C16 CMOS PROM's from National Semiconductor. I think these might be the only PROM's that would take a small enough amount of current to make the project practical. My fully assembled green box takes 42 ma standby current, and 47 ma when producing tones. For those of you who don't like wiring crystals {me = I hate buying capacitors), Jameco Electronics {1355 Shoreway Road / Belmont, CA 94002 / (415) 592-8097 (COD's accepted)) makes a little package which has four pins, but fits in a 14 pin socket. Give it +5 VDC on one pin, ground on another, and thied will produce a 1 Miz square wave. It costs $9.95, part number OSC 1.000. The only problem with this device is that it draws 20 ma typical. So ui the conventional circuit and you just about halve the current consumption. Plea For Parts ‘The places I have mentioned above are relatively { I know that there are cheaper places ever, having more money than brains, I'm too lazy to find them. If someone else would, it might make a good article. Boxing From The Bay In using a blue box around here (East Bay), WATS numbers and information don't seem to work too well, Or more accurately, at all. So, the method I have been using is this: call a long distance number, one that you know can be bleéped off. Then, as the phone on the other end starts to ring, bleep off. Unfortunately, if the number you call sup your money will be gobbled at the end of the call. Also, I boxed off of a 415 number the other day, but when I played my tones, every time I got a 120 ipm reorder signal. Does anyone know if the 415 NPA use automatic equipment? I know the tones are correct (i.e., it works from other area codes). Another possibility is boxing from terminal boxes. Park your car next to one, open it, and use your handset {you do have a lineman's handset, don't you?) to find a working pair. Then use about 20' of wire (which the terminal box may have - MS boxes have a big spool of wire inside) to bring the line to your car. Hook up the handset and box away! This brings up the point of “Why box when I can just dial with my handset now?" In my opfnion, Putting ‘en through yourself is more phun, that's why! Comments, suggestions, bitches, ideas, etc., should be sent to Pred Steinbeck, c/o TAP. Cheats won't ring Bell any more The telephone company Is crecking down on cheaters who make longdistance calls from pay phones and bill them to someone else's umber, A ‘Operators in some parts of the nation are now required to verify any umbera given for billing by ealling the referredto phane number and ‘confirming with whomever answers that the caller lives or works there. If no one answerg at the umber to be billed, or if someone answers ‘and says the person ealling is unknown to them, the eall.is rejected, ‘Tricksters using the configence game cost American Telephone & ‘Telegraph Co. more than $4 million last year, the company éaid, ‘The ARPANET -(@art I: An Introduction) by Pred Steinbeck What It Is ‘The ARPANET, also referred to as the ArpaNet, is one of the largest governmental computer networks in existence. It was established in the late 1960° ntal network. It was so . and more comput. nd now it is the main government computer network. It was originally sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA - the people who brought you the M16 rifle), but now it 1s run and spo! tl partment Of Defense (DOD) and the De: Communications Agency (DCA - Note that their military counterpart, the Defense Comaunications Command, or DCC, are the folks who brought you AUTOVON and AUTODIN). purely an expert Access to the ARPANET is given only to people who "need" access. That ia, if a person has a government project which would require use of the net, they would be granted access. As it is now, many institutions hav network via computers known « Most (1£ not all) TAC's and T: dialup ports (without pasawor I might add). Because of this, Joe Nobody can get onto the networ 1 it tekes is a little know how. What It's Good For There are basically two things you can do with the network. First, if you have access to a computer connected to the ARPANET, you can probably send electronic mail over the network. This 1s fun, but not truly anything to get overheated about. The second thing you can do with the ARPANET is called use it to connect with remote computer: hosts. THis is much like Telenet Montgomery's article in issue 74). Oni connect to the remote computer through your dialup, you can attempt to login (net that you'd ever do that, of course...) There are two basic ways of getting access to the network. The first method is to find the dialup number of @ TIP or TAC in your area, Then call the number and use it to connect to the computer that your interested in (I realize that's not very specific, Parts II and III of this.series wil} cover doing just that...) The second method is just good, but it works only if you already have access to 6 compute: connected to the ARPANET. If you do, look'for a program called, curiously enough, "tip". This is a program which allows your computer to simulate a TIP. Because the program "TIP" is different on almost every machine, I can't explain exactly how to use it - you'll have to look up the information in the computer's manual. Getting A TIP Or TAC Mumber Most major universities and colleges are connected to the ARPANET. Also, large corporations or companies doing business with the government may be connected. Here are some specific places that have TIP'g or TAC's: Gunter Air Air Force + Washington; Arwy Communications Electronics Command, Port Monmouth, NJ; Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Inc., Cambridge, MAr Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, MA) MITRE Corp., VAy Moffett Pield, CA; National Bureau Of Standards, Washington; Rockwell Intl., Richardson, ‘TX; SRI International (our favorite!), Menlo Park, CA; Stanford University, CA; The Rand Corp, Senta Monica, CA; University Of Southern California; and the University Of Utah. My, all those Air Porce Ba While! you're there, perhaps you could ask about AUTOVON,’ too! In tting TIP/TAC numbers, wi itting techniqu rat, ts at the university or college in question - they'll probably know, and won't mind giving them out. As far as government Places ({.e., Air Bases), well, just have a good story: I saw the other day at @ National Guard Armory @ nocice about how @ guy posed as 2 intelligence officer and walked into the A of the armory and took an M16Al rifle. The military’ isn’t all that tough... So, for now, you mission is {if Jim Phelps will allow me to borrow his line) to find out the TIP and TAC numbers in your area, Later issues will have parts It and III, which cover actually using the net. Stay cool ‘till then. by Pred Steinbeck Dialing The met Ok, now you've got a TIP or TAC number and you're just waiting to find out how to screw with the ARPANET, right? Well, first thing is to call the TIP/TAC number. It will give an answer tone, so your modem (presumably 300 baud) should be set for originate. Nothing nappensi Nothing is, printed on the screent Fantastic, The TIP or TAC {s waiting for 8 hunt character, a character which will tell it what speed you are running at. If you have the dialup for a control-Q. You should then get the me + type a coe <Sitename> TAC <version #> <port #> Tf you don't, or if the message is garbled, hit the break key (for people without "break" keys, try hitting the "4" sign button on a touch-tone phone) and then type another control-Q. If this doesn't work, let me know by mail, and I'll see 1£ I can't figure something out for you. TIP's are another story entirely. They are a general pain in the ass to work with. The hunt ch. ters for TIP's vary depending on the baud rate and the device that you are using to connect to the TIP. If you are ASCII 110, 150, or 300 baud, the hunt character is "E" (upper-case). If you transmit ASCII 300 baud, but receive at 1200 baud, the character {s "D". ASCII 1200 baud doesn’t need a hunt character. Assuming you get the hunt character to TIP ok, you should see the TIP signon messa which is like the TAC signon. Note that ASCII 1 baud people don't get a signon message. Using The wet The re two commands we are concerned with. The first is "@o host/imp", which tells the TIP/TAC to open @ connection to the specified host and imp address. The second command is "@c" which stands for “close", and is used for (surprise!) closing the connection. The "o" and do not necessarily have to be in lower-case. A host/imp address specifies the computer that you wish to connect with. The computer you will most probably want to connect with first is the Network Information Center at SRI International. The host/imp address for this is "0/73", so the command to connect to it is @o 0/73 The Network Information Center require an account - when it types * “NICGUEST" or "NIC" and hit return. SRI-NIC) wil) type either The NIC system is pretty straightforward, but obnoxious to use. It allows you to get information on other computers on the net, how to order (by U.S. Mail) manuals from SRI, internet protocols, etc. In short, after screwing with it for a while, you will learn enough about the net to go off on your merry way. Oh, when you get tired of a connection, simply type "@c" and hit return. This will close the connection and bring you back to the TIP/TAC command mode. This {s really a bare-bones course on the ARPANET, but it should be enough to get you out there, nethacking to your heart's content. Next month wil] be part III, general netnotes. If, in the meanwhile, you have questions or comments, send them _to Pred Steinbeck, c/o TAP. Gibberish by teed Steinbeck This colunn of mine will cover many topics, some of which I have dealt with before ~ in short, it's a potpourri of various things...or, gibberish. Books to get: An excellent book I have just finished looking over is Signalling In Tele- communications Wetworks by Samuel Welch. This book, although rather technical, covers SF signalling, MF interoffice signalling, CCIS (common channel interoffice signalling, also known as plain ol' common channel signalling, CCS), and many other topics. Highly recommended. Bo I'd like to get: In issue number 68, The Magician wrote about the Bell book Notes On Distance Dialing, mentioning that it used to cost $12.95. He also said to send a SASE for more info on getting it. Would it not be easier to tell how in TAP? Or is it one of those things that is better left to a limited readership? Along the same lines, how does one get a copy of the CCITT Green book, or the Bell 100 Series Test Codes? I'd like to get th ,» but TI ha not been successful yet...perhaps somebody will take pity and send some info in, huh? Articles: The July Penthouse magazine has an article on computer crime. Believe it or not, this article mentions our good friend Donn Parker, as well as Susan Thunder, the 8BBS, and the COSMOS computer system...worth reading, perhaps. Sprint: In the last issue, number 76,, there was @ list of Sprint dialups across the nation. However, one I used to use in Oakland, (415) 832-5015, wa omitted. While I apprec the effort that went inte compiling such a list, is it possible there are more additions? Garbage: Garbage can provide an excellent source of information...dialups, passwords, computer logins, etc. Try going through your local ESS dumpster late at night and see what's there. Or perhaps a stock market place. Or bank (be careful, though). I think you'll be surprised at what you'll get (besides £1 and the plague)! Newslines: Here are a couple in the Pac Tel area, from Bell's own newspaper, Update: (415) 45-8800 San Francisco (or)>-1 (800) 882-1061 (from California)<--1 (408) 491-7777 San Jose (714) 237-3111 San Diego (714) 835-5111 Orange-Inland Empire The San Jose number in {ssue number 65 is disconnected. AUTOVON: I talked with another guy, this one an slectrenios tech with the Navy. I got the following ‘rom him. AUTOVON is sponsored by the Defense Communications Command (DCC). They are the military counterpart of the Defense Communications Agency. The Air Force are the main AUTOVON users, and the Navy uses it a good 1 too. There is another service similar to AUTOVON called AUTODIN, which stands for AUTOmatic Digital Information Network. It is used only for connecting computers together. At any given time, the military controls / uses 3% to 78 of the nation's long distance lines. However, in an emergency, at the pr of a button, a computer called SCAN in Omaha will grab onto 908 of the civilfan long distance lines for military use. Could be cute to get the dialup to SCANI Last, more and more AUTOVON traffic is being put through government computers called STEAMVALVEs, which are essentially over-grown voice encrypters. I seem to have run out of things to write about. Comments or questions should be directed to me c/o TAP. Or, like I said, write an article Gibberish It by Pred Steinbeck Welcome again to a collection of oddities and bizzareness in the phone phield. Much of this month's material comes straight from the horse's ass, so to speak ({.e., the Bell System). Ah, yes, the infamous ESS, or Electronic Switching System. The very word strikes terror into the heart of a phone-phreak. First the bad news, I igo in the May / ra magazine, and found that 518 of all switching centers across the U.S. are now ESS's. It took Bell 17 years to t the first half done, and it is expected to take another 10 years to finish the job. 1992, phriends. * Sigl Mew Payphones? In the March ‘82 issue of Record, If saw that Bell is working on a new pay phone. This one is known as the “electronic® model (as opposed to the old one?) In any case, the thing a little better armored, and is alleged by Sell Labs to produce 2200 & 1700 Hz more accurately. Tt's also supp to detect slugs and foreign coins better. We shall’ see, as it {s supposed to appear in 1983. Automated Coin Toll Service (ACTS) Around here (Bay Area), we have a new computer called ACTS. This computer runs under stations which have TSPS, and basically tries to impersonate an operator. ACTS is used with pay phones, for long distance calls. For example, you put in your dime and dial a long distance call. You hear a voice (with an 80 word vocabulary, no less) come on and say, “Thirty five cents p: (2 second pause) Please deposit thirty five cents for the next three minutes." If you talk for more than the three minutes, and then hang up, ACTS will call back and demand your money... More bad news - ACTS, being a computer, can detect coin toll fraud (i.e., red boxes) better than operators. I, would assume it would measure the duration and frequency of the tones. You can flash the switchook, however, or dial "0" and get the operator. Why you'd want to do that, I don't know. She'd probably just turn you over to ACTS again. € you want a document on ACTS (a promotional / quasi-technical one), or have any questions or comments about this article, send a SASE to Pred Steinbeck, ¢/o TAP. to cut your phone bills, cut out this chart. Vasck Issues ace $.75 each. Tesue #50 is $1.50. | Subscriptions - 10 issues per year. Us Bulk Envelope Rate $8. ed envelope $10. ' US First Cl. in plain s¢ Canada & Mexico First Class $10. | Poreign Surface $9. - Foreign Air Mail $12. IMPORTANT! Please include your mailing label or a { Xerox copy whenever you write to TAP about your subscription. | Electronic Courses - $.75 each. A - DC Basics, B - AC Basics, C - Phone Basics, D - Amplifiers. (rae Bell* th - $1.50. ( ' ' ' ' | FAP "10th Anniversary" Pen - $.50. ‘ | Tae Cassette Tape ~ “$4.50: Heac Cet crunch, Al Bel essia & Bell Security Chief John Doherty ' i) 4 | 2ee Eng TAP Pact Sheet #1 - $.50. Credit card call hints. TAP Fact Sheet #2 - $.50. Pree BELL phone calli TAP Fact Sheet §3 - $.50. Free GTE phone call: FAP Fact Sheet $4 - $.50. Dual Tone Oscillatoi Displayed Red Box, & 2600 Whistle Perfector plan I [ Send CASH, check, or money order to : l Room 603, 147 we: ind Street, New York, 10036 on eerdcy Pred Steinbeck In this column, I shall try to show a few tricks I have picked -up while hacking on the UNIX operating system. This is not meant to be a tutorial; I assume you are relatively fantifer with UNIX. Enough to know what I’m talking about, in any case. I use the UNIX systems here at U.C, Berkeley, so a few notes about them: Pirst, they run Version 7 ally run under the C-shell. I think 8 around use the C-shel) today, nd are version 7, so that shouldn't be any tories & Terminals: Some good director! swith are /etc, /usr/doc, /usr/spool, and /dev. This last directory, /dev, contains all the evices (peripherals) on the system. UNIX treats all 1/0 devices as files, which means that there are some special things you can do with them. Pirst, all terminals hooked into the system have a file jociated with them. At UCB, most of the terminals (dev/az /dev/bxi /iev/axt signs are digits. In any the “who" command prints ou! nat of th rminals peopl. ire on. So, let: YY that a friend of yours ha terminal "éz28". Well, th corresponds to terminal “dz2 Following this to it’ type eat /usr/dict/words > /dev/dz28 legged on, using flename which 8 /dev/dz28. logical conclusion, if we and hit return, we will cause the entire 50,000 word dictionary (in the file */usr/dict/words") to be printed on his terminal. If he happens to be on a 300 baud dialup, well, (yeu *) on his screen. Well, “cat"ing into other people's terminals doesn't reveal your identity to them, so it is less ilkely that they will be able to retaliate. Another good command, when used in conjunction with terminal filenames, is "stty" (set tty). The command stty 0 causes you to be logged off. But, If we specify a terminal to send this command through, it will effect the user of that terminal. Therefore, stty 0 > /dev/d228 will logout your aforementioned friend (boy, you sure treat your friends rotten, don't you?) Well, it's 2 in the morning right now, so I'd best leave you to your UNIX wizardry, and me to ay sleep. But there's more...s0on: anonymous messages in the system bulletin board program. 79 ACTS Update by Fred Steinbeck 1 wish to apologize for some misinformation in a Previous column of mine (Gibberish II). In this column, I mention ACTS, the Automated Coin Toll Service computer which is replacing operators for accepting money at pay phones. I gave the impression that ACTS would be hard to use red boxes on, it, being a computer, would be able to detect timing differences between red boxes and the Pay.phone. I have never been more wrong successfully boxed calls using a manual red box - one where the length of the tone is determined by how long the switch is held down. In other words, the button {s pressed twice to simulate a dine. ACTS happily accepts this, so I conclude that it doesn't know a milisecond from a hole in the ground. 1 have witnessed I should mention another possibility, however. It could be (and I have no proof of this at all) that if ACTS suspects toll fraud, it allows the €all to go through, and then notifies an operator. This probably isn't so. Occasionally an operator will come on the line and ask for money, but this only seems to happen when the *money" is deposited too fast. On a related subject, I have’ found what seems to be the best way to blue box from the Bay Area. Call a number you know can be blue boxed off of, from a pay phone, using your red box. Then disconnect and re-route your call with your blue box. The most it will cost you is a nickel. I know a girl who did this the other day. A few days later the person she called got a call from Bell Security. They knew the number she called, the number she called from (which is why you should use @ pay phone), the time of day the call was placed, and the length of the call. So it might be prudent only to do this when scanning for operator codes, unless you know the person you are calling won't talk. .tn his fascinating book “Russia,” Robert Karses 1s ‘Shim tht there ee no telephone otchoards > Sc, Russian hoteh. tf dat is tue, how do telephone calls a ‘get Urough!—Mildred Davis, Aust, Tex. < S$ ‘A. Lach hotel room in the newest Moscow hotels 2 ‘has its own phone; its own separate phone number, ts own outside lines. In creature comforts the Samet Union lags 50 years behind the US. HOTS Curling up in front of the fire Book Review by Cheshire Catalyst As a Phone Phreak, we are all called upon from time to time to explain to our less technical friends “How it all Works.” Now there is a book yee gan pane them, (or tell them to get) called 1 Ou ephone: by van Waterford. The book Glosses Svar eheehiseory of telephone ermice Ts the U. S., and then explains the workings of the insides of the phone. His explanation of the net- work inside the phone left much to be desired, and he didn't explain fully why there were so many harmonics available from the ringer. Then again, that wasn't what the book was really about. Most of the book seems to discribe what tele- Phone hardware is out there in the marketplace, and how to hook it up. It goes into modular con- Rectors, cordless telephones, decorator phones, repertory dialers, caculator phones, scramblers, security alarms, facsimile, and mobil radic— Phones. It includes a glossary, which is pretty good for the new comer. Most important, it has a list Of suppliers, including addresses, of all the companies mentioned in the book. The blurbs on the back of the book Also mention The Handbook of Telephones & Accessorie: {$9.95 paper, order @557) whicl hope evier in a future issue. All About Telephones (order number 1097) is available for $5. ‘rom Tab Books, Dept Tap, Blue Ridge Summit PA, 17214.