     Topic for today: The Ditto Box 

     Definition: A special device for eavesdropping / recording

	Gen-2600

phone conversations Most people at one time or another want to listen in on
phoneconversations... but, they often get caught if they pick up an
extensionphone, or if they tap into a line with a beige box and a phone
without amute button (God forbid!) 
     Anyway, there are a few tricks you can pull soas not to be detected while 
eavesdropping. The big thing is, you need aphone which will NOT send ANY noise 
out through the line. Most modernphoneshave mute buttons, but they are a pain, 
cause you have to hold themin the whole time you're listening, and, they often 
cause "line noise" tobe passed over the phone. Also, the way a lot of "1 piece" phones aredesigned, it's impossible to hold in the mute button as you pick up or hangup
the phone, which ALWAYS makes some kind of noise. So, here's a quickand dirty way to
"adjust" a phone, so it has a mute SWITCH, not button. A switch is much
nicer, because you can flip it off, and not have to hold itthe whole time
you're listening. Also, a switch doesn't put out the linenoise like a
push-and-hold mute button does, because there is no frictionwhich causes the
contacts to rub. Any phone can be modified in a matter of minutes, to have a
muteswitch. All it takes is an SPST (single pole single throw) switch, and
abit of wire. A soldering iron also comes in handy. Here's what to do:1)
Open the phone, and find the microphone (mouthpiece). On newer phonesthis
might be tough, since they are often 1 piece of molded plastic. On
olderphones, the mouthpiece cover can usually be unscrewed, allowing
easymodification. It all depends on the phone, however. Anyway, open it
up,and find the wires leading to the mic.2) Cut ONE of the microphone wires,
and strip back the insulation a bit.If there isn't a lot of extra wire
running to the mic, you might want tosolder an additional 3" on to the wire
you cut, to give yourself some workingroom.3) Find a convenient place on the
phone to mount the SPST switch, and thensolder the wire you cut to the
switch. This way, you'll be able to switchthe mic on and off whenever you
want. Put the phone back together (TESTyour work first, though!) and you
have a muteable phone. So, what do youdo with it? Well, eavesdrop from an
extension in your home, a beige box, orwherever. The phone is silent, so
you're pretty safe. Of course, you MAYwant to take it just a bit farther...
Since you have a special phone for eavesdropping, it would reallybe nice to
spice it up a bit. After all, it's hardly worth modifying aphone just to add
a mute switch. And it would seem pretty lame if that wasall I was gonna tell
you in this file. Any moron with 3 brain cells couldfigure out how to make a
muteable phone. So, on to the INTERESTING stuff... This is something I
rigged up at home, and don't know if it's got anofficial "box" color, or
name, or whatever. I'm sure somebody somewherehas done it, but since I never
saw a file on it, I thought I'd write one.Egotistical person I am, I'll call
it a "DiTTo Box" - but for good reason.See, it allows you to tape record any
phone conversation, and also tolisten in at the same time, over a stereo or
boom box. And, it uses themuteable phone, above. Here's how it works: All
phones have a speaker in them, through which you hear theperson talking to
you. What the DiTTo Box does is allow you to run thesignals through a
stereo, and out the stereo speakers, instead of throughthe phone speaker. To
do this, you are going to need a phone dedicated toDiTTo Boxing. Any phone
will do, and you can modify it in 2 different ways- you can make it a true
DiTTo box, and it won't serve it's purpose as aphone that you can converse
on any longer, or you can make a "lowerquality" DiTTo Box, which you will
still be able to use as a phone, but theboxing quality will be slightly
weakened.The difference lies in whether or not you keep the speaker in the
phone.You can keep the speaker in the phone, and run wires from the
speakerterminals to the input lines of your stereo, and it WILL work, but
thesound quality over the stereo won't be as good. OR, you can remove
thephone speaker entirely, and in it's place connect 2 alligator clips, one
toeach speaker output wire. This is a dedicated DiTTo Box. I chose to gowith
the lower quality box, simply because I don't do a whole lot
ofeavesdropping, and I only had 1 phone I could modify, which I also use
forbeige boxing. Still, it serves my purpose both ways. To get the box
working, solder leads from the 2 speaker terminalsto alligator clips. Give
yourself about 6-8 inches of wire at least! Thebest length would be about 18
inches, if you plan on connecting to a homestereo. Once the leads are
soldered, you can connect them to the INPUTjacks on your home stereo, or
boom box. You can even hook them up in your car,if your car has LINE IN or
CD INPUT capability. Anyway, most stereos usethe RCA plug for connections.
So, get an RCA plug off an old speaker orsomething, and clip the alligator
clips to it. Plug it into the stereo,and set the selector on the reciever to
accept input from the phone. Takethe phone off the hook, and you will hear a
dialtone over your stereospeakers. (yes, you MUST plug the phone into the
phoneline for this towork) Now, try dialing... you will hear the tones over
the stereo. If youhave a tape deck on the stereo, you can record your phone
conversations.If you have a phone rigged up like this, and call someone, you
can tape theentire conversation, and they'll never know! Incoming calls are
a bittrickier, but they can be recorded too. The toughest part is trying to
getthe stereo turned on and everything quiet before answering the phone,
towaylay any suspicion. Also, keep the stereo on LOW volume, to
avoidsquealing from feedback. There are lots of uses for a DiTTo box, and
I've told only one ortwo. You can use the box to record dialing tones on
cassette, then carrythem with you, to be used in a cassette player at a
payphone, whatever.Plenty of possibilities exist, that's for sure. Just
remember, phonetapping and eavesdropping are classified as a FEDERAL
OFFENSE, so it's bestnot to get caught.
