THE VIOLET BOX
                                --------------

    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.

                                HOW TO MAKE IT
                                --------------

    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 going 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.

                                HOW TO USE IT
                                -------------

    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.

                                 HOW IT WORKS
                                 ------------

    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 disconnected 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 handle 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 .....

                               ALTERNATIVE USE
                               ---------------

    If you also have a beige box, and access to an enemy's phone wiring
    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 anything, 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.


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    disclaimer: this is for informational purposes only. no responsibility
    is accepted for any consequences of use or misuse of any information
    contained herein. any material whose source i have not acknowledged is
    believed to be my own - if it sounds like something you invented, just
    remember great minds think alike.