| RADBOX PLANS - COMBINES RED AND GREEN BOX FUNCTIONS INTO ONE BOX |
| A NIRVANAnet(tm) Infodose written by Dastar Com |
| Distributed via the NIRVANAnet(tm) text file distribution network |
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Go to radio shack. Get a 33-memory pocket dialer (model RS43-141). Buy a
6.5535 Mhz crystal. Radio shack is lame and may not sell you both at the
same time. Or they may question you. If they do, tell them to fuck off in a
very big way and buy the crystal from another radio shack, a electronics
supply house, or Fry's or something. Open the box up. De-solder the 3.57
Mhz crystal and replace it with the 6.5535 Mhz crystal. The * key will now
generate 1700+2200 Hz instead of 941+1209. Now, if you program five *'s into
a memory cell (preferrably P1, P2, or P3) you will have an acceptable quarter
tone. Or, if you want red box tones but want to keep the functionality of
the dialer, de-solder one leg of the 3.57 Mhz crystal. Solder the free leg
to one side of an SPDT switch. Solder the middle leg of the SPDT switch to
the lead that you just de-soldered the crystal lead from (ie. the lead going
into the microprocessor blob on the circuit board). Solder one leg of the
6.5535 Mhz crystal to the other leg of the SPDT switch and solder the other
lead to the same lead as the 3.57 Mhz crystal. I will attempt to diagram:
__,__ Switch
[_____]
| | |
| | '---2---+
| '-------3 |
'-------1-'-'
where 1 is the 3.57 Mhz crystal, 2 is the 6.5535 Mhz crystal, and 3 is the
little black microprocess blob on circuit board. The lines coming out on
both sides of 1 are the leads of the 3.57 mhz crystal. One lead goes to the
switch, the other lead goes to the blob. The same for 2, which is the 6.5535
Mhz crystal. Notice how one lead of each crystal share the same connection
to the blob. Then you flip the switch one way to activate the 6.5535
crystal, and the other way to activate the 3.57 mhz crystal. one way is red
box, the other way is dialer. Simple. I apologize it the diagram is not so
pretty. Use some imagination. At any rate, get the last 9 back issues of
2600 and read.
Are you sure you are trying to use those tones on a payphone that will
accept them? A lot of new pac bell payphones defeat the red box. How I
don't know. I have experimented with the new ones... torn one apart. And
couldn't figure it out. I'm still doing research... although I haven't looked
into it lately. Try a payphone withOUT a loudness button. BTW, the loudness
button is to comply with recent FCC rulings for hearing impaired people (I
think... at any rate it was to comply with some FCC ruling). Now there must
be at least one payphone in a location with multiple phones that has a
loudness button. When they swapped the old one out, they also put in new
circuitry that defeats red box tones and has limited remote polling
capabilities... much like cocots except not as elaborate.
Did some checking, and figured that if you swap a 4.101 Mhz crystal into
a dialer, the 5 key will turn into the operator release signal (900+1500 Hz)
and the pound key (#) will turn into the coin return signal (1100+1700 Hz).
Now, I don't know if it would work very well if at all, since the tolerances
are off by about .5 percent for the Op. Release tone pair. It would be worth
a try though. And if you can fit both crystals in the dialer (not hard to
do) and find a three-way switch, you'll have yourself a killer little device.
Red box when you're out in the field, green box when you're in the home
office and a colleague calls you but forgets his red box... return his coins
to him. I may attempt to build this if I get the time. Someone else may
want to try for me. please do. And good luck finding the right value
crystal. 4.101 is a calculated value and not a known common value. It may
well be, but it also may well be not. If you have trouble or don't know how
to calculate the correct frequencies for changing the touch-tone pairs to
frequencies you want, say so and I will write a short tutorial on how. Its
basic math. It isn't hard.
Hack on.