***Conversion box*** by Captain B

Test sets (Lineman handsets) are obviously a useful phreak tool for beige
boxing. But, unless you're willing to drop a couple hundred bucks to buy
one at your local authorized Harris telecom products dealer, dumpster dive
for one, or take the chance doing the ol' 5 finger discount with some Ma
Bell truck, It's better to use a one-piece phone (Like the Apollo or Super-mini
flip phones from Radio Hack, or the ConAir flip phone availible at K mart
stores). Or, you could convert a phone that has a keypad in the handset to
a psuedo
test set for beige boxing purposes (As I'll be discussing here). Yes,
you could also convert a phone without a keypad in the handset, but
you'd better have a way of sending DTMF via acoustic coupling, such
as with a tone dialer (If you can still find one at the local Radio
Hack). Also, since most lineman handsets have features that are
either on most phones, or not absolutely needed for the more
exclusive features, It's just all the more reason to beige box with a
regular phone. The driving principal behind making this is very
similar to the one used for the Bungee box. Because, you'll be
modifying a handset cord for this. The difference is that only 1 end
of the handset cord will be modded. Here's what you'll need...

*A handset cord
*Modular crimp tool
*Wire cutter (Unless the crimp tool has it built in)

You'll also first want to check how many conductors there are inside
your phone handset. If It's 2 conductors, It'll be simpler. If
there's more than 2, it becomes necessary to isolate which 2 wires
are used to power the handset. (Well, at least that's how it was with
a 4 wire phone handset I was converting). To check the amount of
conductors in the handset, remove the handset cord and look inside
the hole where the handset plug from the cord goes in. Hopefully,
It's 2 conductors. And yes, you could check the number of conductors
in the handset cord instead, but since handset cords always seem to
have 4 conductors when bought as new, that could mislead you. I'll go
more into isolating the 2 wires involved for powering the handset on
a 4 conductor handset cord in a minute. Let's get into making this.
Take the handset cord, look first at the little wires in the plug to
observe for the color scheme (Thus making note of correct polarity)
then, cut off that handset cord plug as close as possible with where
it connects to the cord. Carefully, strip off a bit of the insulation
using the modular crimp tool's stripper. Take a 2 line (RJ14) modular
line cord plug, and push the line cord plug over that end of the
handset cord, facing the same way as the previous handset cord plug
was. (In other words, if the little spring clip on the handset cord
plug was facing down, crimp the line cord plug on facing the same way
as that was). Then insert that end of the handset cord into the
modular crimp tool properly, and squeeze the handles together firmly
until it stops (which is quite fast). See the instuctions that came
with the modualar crimp tool if you need more help. Now, if a 2
conductor handset was used, you can just plug it into any working
modular jack, and it should work. But, if the handset has more than 2
conductors, connect up an in-line coupler (Female-to-female RJ14
connector). Then, connect a modified 2-line (RJ14) line cord (with 4
alligator clips) on the other end of the in-line coupler. Try
connecting the gator clips in different combinations of 2 at a time
to the screws holding the red and green wires inside a modular jack
or out at the TNI until you get a dial tone. Of course, you'll want
to either remove the cover from the modular jack by unscrewing the
center screw, or prying it off if it has no screw to access the 42A
block with 4 screw terminals inside. Or, in the case of the TNI, open
it on the Telco access side using a 3/8 hex bit on a 1/4 drive
ratchet or spinner handle. (These can be found at Home Depot stores).
In a TNI, the red and green wires run from the subsciber modules
contained in the customer side to the screw termianls on the telco
side. Use that for reference. (Disregard the other colored wires
there). If you only have 1 line service, make sure you connect up to
the 2 screw terminals that have phone service. Otherwise, there won't
be a dial tone, of course. The conversion box makes for a handy
placebo to a lineman's handset, don't you think? As always, be
careful and have phun.