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Phruwt Issue 01 005
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Alternative Redboxing by Zork916
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If you've read some (hell, all of them) of the redbox plans out there, you've
probably noticed that you need to know something about soldering and electronics to pull one off. Most beginners aren't too crazy about getting
a hot soldering iron close to a dialer that they just shelled out $25 for.
One slip and U LOSE!!! I came upon this idea quite suddenly one day. I had
just bought a recorder for school, and besides recording lectures (and the
occasional blackmailing :) there wasn't much else to do with it, as I rarely
listen to music. I was screwing around with it when I took a closer look at
the ports on its side. The port for connecting the recorder directly to
another device was the same side as the output port on my Mac, and
well . . . . things went *click*.
Required Materials:
A Radio Shack CTR-66 cassette recorder (you don't really need this particular
model, but it's reliable)
A recording of a quarter tone (there are always a few floating around on
alt.2600; try not to act TOO much like a newbie when you ask for one)
A audio cord with connections on both ends
An earphone (you can take apart a pair of headphones if you need to)
Setup:
Look at the ports on your player. It should look something like this:
EAR AUX REM MIC
----| | ----| | ----| | ----| |
---- ---- ---- ----
On your computer, load up a sound editor and make about $2.00 worth of tones
in the file. Be sure to space them out randomly so any eavesdropping operator
won't wonder why all of the tones are coming across with the same amount of
time between each one. When you've finished editing the sound, plug the audio
cord into the output port on your computer and the other end into the AUX
port on your recorder. Make sure a tape is in and is ready to go. Put it
on RECORD and play your collection of tones several times. I put about $10
on my tape. Be sure to check that it recorded successfully.
Usage:
Take the player and your earphone/half-a-headphone to the nearest Bell phone
(not a COCOT). Get the tape rewound to the beginning of your tones. Once
you've dialed the number and have the lady asking you to deposit whatever
amount of money, put the earphone over the mothpiece and hit PLAY. You may
have to play with the volume to get it to work. This approach only works for
long distance calls. To make a local call, first dial the operator and tell
her your keypad is gummed up, and you can't dial. She will ask for you to
deposit the quarter, and this is where you make your tones. Occasionally the
operator will tell you that they're not receiving a ground check and ask if
you are using a "toll fraud device". To get around this, drop in a nickel
before you make your call and the operator won't bother you.Hope this helps
some of you!
Zork916
