Red Boxing With Whistles

by THE RESEARCHER

This article is presented as a news item only. It is not to be taken as an encouragement to make fraudulent telephone calls.

Red boxing consists of simulating the tones produced when coins are deposited in a pay phone. Coin tones are beeps of 2200 Hz + 1700 Hz as follows:

5 cents - 1 beep, 66 milliseconds duration.

10 cents - 2 beeps, each 66 milliseconds duration with 66 millisecond pause between beeps.

25 cents - 5 beeps, each 33 milliseconds duration with a 33 millisecond pause between beeps.

Two methods have commonly been used by phone phreaks to produce these tones and make free calls.

  1. The traditional Red Box consisting of a pair of Wien-bridge oscillators with the timing controlled by 555 timer chips.
  2. Producing the signals with a computer which are recorded and then played back into the mouth piece of a pay phone.
A third method has recently appeared which is a real mind blower. A phreak in the Midwest has extensively tested a method of red boxing which uses nothing more than a pair of brass or aluminum whistles. The whistles are 1/4 inch in diameter by 4 inches long and are tuned by means of a wooden dowel rod which fits snugly inside. The whistles can be brought precisely on frequency by tuning them against a known signal source such as a computer capable of producing the tones. Once tuned, the whistles are glued or taped together so they can be blown together to produce the dual tone used in coin signaling. It has been tested and proven that with a little practice these whistles can be used to make free calls. Now you can blow your money without spending a cent.

Please note these whistles are available (for test purposes only) from P-80 $35 send orders to P-80 3310 5th Avenue Charleston, WV. 25312

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