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VIOLET BOX 

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Introduction

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Picture the scene ..... a payphone in a rural or  suburban  area,

where  all  the  telephone  wires  are overhead ..... next to the

phone box is a telegraph pole with only one wire  going  down  it

.....  no prizes for guessing where it goes to. It might at first

sight look like a prime site for beige boxing. However, there are

obvious  disadvantages  to beige boxing here, like getting caught

..... thus, the violet box was created. Basically it is a way  of

emulating  some beige box functions without the actual beige box,

but it does have the same requirement of needing physical  access

to  the line. *WARNING* The person on the other end may very well

twig you are using this device. Only phone people you can trust.







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How to make it

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Get a 470 ohm resistor and a pair of crocodile clips.  Connect  a

crocodile  clip to each end of the resistor. That's it. I was go-

ing to call this the "yellow, violet and brown box" but I decided

that  name was too long, so I'll stick to just violet, because it

sounds nice.









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How to use it

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First, you need a beige boxing point that is not too far from the

phone.  Clip  one leg of the resistor on, leave the other end for

the time being. Lift the handset, put in your money and  key  the

number.  As  soon as it starts ringing out, it's action stations!

Clip the other side of the resistor  on  and  dash  back  to  the

phone.  Depress the receiver rest for a few seconds, then let go.

The person on the other end might have answered  while  you  were

doing  this,  let's  just hope they didnd't hang up ..... anyway,

you're now ready to talk. BUT every few minutes the phone will go

'dead' for a few seconds ..... it won't cut you off though.









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How it works

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When a phone is on the hook it has a high resistance to DC and so

hardly any current flows through it. (but it has a low resistance

to AC because AC is what makes the bell ring.) When it is lifted,

it  has  quite a low resistance, actually about 600 ohms. The 470

ohm resistor connected across the line fools  the  exchange  into

thinking  the handset was up the whole time. It has to be discon-

nected for dialling, because pulse dialling (which  is  the  only

sort  that works from payphones) works by opening and closing the

circuit to stop and start the flow of current, so if the resistor

was  connected there the current would never stop flowing, and no

dialling pulses would be sent. When you connect the resistor, the

exchange  just thinks there are 2 phones on the line, it can han-

dle up to 4 so it's no problem. Then you hang  up  the  payphone,

now  the  exchange  thinks there is just one phone; when you lift

the receiver again, the payphone is sitting across  a  line  with

something  already happening, so it just lets you listen to this.

Of course, after a while it decides it's had enough of that,  and

tries  to  cut  you  off.  But  it doesn't manage it, because the

resistor is keeping the line in use. The phone  may  be  able  to

ring  the  exchange  and  report the "fault" but it can't even do

that until after you have disconnected the resistor  and  made  a

getaway .....









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Alternative use

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If you also have a beige box, and access to an enemy's phone wir-

ing  outside  the house (eg. the wires from a telegraph pole) you

might like to try this use for the  violet  box  .....  this  can

SERIOUSLY  do people over ..... beige box from their line to any-

thing, but the more expensive and embarrassing the  service,  the

better  .....  Australian kinky sex lines? the mind boggles .....

anyway, stick the violet box on, disconnect the beige box and run

like hell.


