Criticism of the "Red Box FAQ" 

                  AUTHOR: Unknown
                  CRITIC: Cyber Thief

      NOTE: Comments followed by > are those of the original author.


> Red boxes are devices that emulate the tones made by quarters when dropped
> in pay phones. These tones are used to tell the Central Office (local
> telephone switch station) that you paid money when you in fact did not
> really pay.
>
> ~~~HOW TO~~~~~
>
> The most popular red box is the modified Radio Shack tone dialer. This
> consists of replacing an oscillator in the dialer. The original
> oscillator's frequency is 3.579545 MHz, and the oscillator you need to
> install will be 6.50 MHz. If you're really skilled and want to make a
> more accurate box, get a non-VCO (voltage controlled oscillator) and tune
> it with an oscilloscope to 6.49 MHz (the "real" quarter tone frequency).
>
> The second type of red box is a recording of the tone, whether done on a
> tape or an electronic device. The best results I've attained have come
> from the little Radio Shack, in the form of a palm-sized digital recorder
> on a keychain. After some practice with timing the "record" button I was
> able to cut out all the background noise and get a very clean quarter tone.
> This is by far the easiest, cheapest methods I've seen for making
> reliable red boxes. Another advantage is if you get caught with the
> red box, all you have to do is push the "record" button to erase the tone.
>
> ~~~~TELCO COUNTERMEASURES~~~~
>
> The telephone company has implemented several measures to stop the use of
> red boxes.
>  
> The first measure used is fairly simple:  When the user starts
> dialing a number on the telephone's keypad, the handset is cut off,
> disallowing the use of a red box all together.

 Close but not quite right. The mouthpiece is disabled upon lifting the 
handset. Although this can be defeated by dialing a 10xxx number.

> The second measure involves the use of a band pass filter. Band pass
> filters cut specified frequencies and leave behind the rest. The filters
> used in pay phones are connected between the handset and the phone, allowing
> quarter tones (from real quarters) to go through, but not tones. There is
> a *rumor* that there is a way to defeat this however.  
>
> Back when blue boxes first started to not work because of a similar unit 
> installed at the Central Offices, phreaks used what's known as a "pink 
> noise source".  

 Nope. The Central Offices added 2600Hz detectors not band pass filters.

> From my understanding, this fed a lot of crap through the filter which 
> made it temporarily not function as it should, thus allowing blue box tones 
> to pass.  

 Not correct. The pink noise disguised the tone so it would not be easily
recognized by telco detection equipment.

> A similar setup *may* work with red boxes. The circuit for a pink
> noise generator can be found in many electronics books.

 Most likely it wouldn't work. How would you incorporate pink noise with a
tone dialer?

> ========================
> 
> Part 2.....
> 
> This article will go more in depth about the technical aspects of redbxes.
> First off we will cover redbox tones, various other aspects, etc.
>
> The redbox tone ("quarter tone") is MF(Multi Frequency).  

No, they are DTMF. (Dual tone Multi Frequency) Blue Box tones are MF. 

> The frequencies are 1100 and 1700 @6.49MHz.  

 Incorrect. 1700+2200Hz is the true "coin frequency". The 6.49Mhz is the 
type of crystal needed to produce these tones.

> Some people may ask, "Why can't I put in tones before I dial?" The answer is 
> this:  If you don't dial, the payphone is idle.  At this point it still 
> expects you to drop in a quarter. Remember that payphones have antifraud 
> devices that weigh and measure the quarter before you are allowed to place 
> your call.  But, if you dial the number first you must be switched to a 
> Central Office.  From the Central Office comes the recording telling you 
> how much to put in.  By bypassing the internal electronics this way you are 
> feeding the tones directly to the central office, and thus your call should 
> go through.
>
> If you don't have accurate tones you may get an operator.  since there is
> a noticeable difference in the tone sound between a 6.5MHz crystal and a
> 6.5536 crystal, I would recommend getting a 6.5MHz crystal.  
>
> BUILDING THE REDBOX
>
> When you go to Radi Shaft to buy a tone dialer, make *sure* you ask
> whether the dialers they have are the old kind or the new kind.  the new
> kind WILL NOT work.  This is the reason:  On the old dialers when you open
> up the case, to the left to the black blob(chip in the middle of the
> circuitboard) and down is a small silver cylinder.  This is the crystal
> that you need to replace with a 6.5MHz crystal.  If you buy a new one you
> wil see that the crystal isn't there; the people at Rat Shack got smart
> and replaced it with a ship to avoid fraud.

 What is "Radi Shaft"?

You don't need the old dialer to make a Red Box. The new models (43-146) can 
be converted quite easily. Radio Shack didn't replace anything with a chip!
Just open up the dialer and look for a small tan colored component labeled
Z3.58M. It is also located to the left and down of the black blob.


> What you in essence need to do is desolder the terminals of the old
> crystal and pull it out.  Then, cut the leads on the new crystal short and
> bend them to fit the two spots where the old crystal was.  Solder the new
> leads on and close the box back up.
>
> PROGRAMMING - This is very simple.  
> For a nickel, click the "Store"button, hit (*) and (P1).  
> You'll have a nickel tone in button Priority 1.

 Click the "Store" button? I thought it was a switch. And, what about the 
memory button?

> For a dime tone, put the dialer on "Store" again, hit (*) then (P2).  You
> now have a dime in Priority 2.

 Uhm, no. That will give you a nickel as well. You need to hit the * twice. 
Example: MEMORY * * MEMORY P2.

> For a quarter tone, put the dialer on "Store", and hit 
> (*)(*)(*)(*)(*) then (P3).  You have a quarter in P3.
 
 Once again you left out the memory button.



Don't write FAQs unless you know what the hell you're talking about.
I'm glad I didn't learn to redbox from this file!

-Cyber Thief

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