Silver Boxes:
         History, Construction

 Well, now that I have you here, I may
as well bore you with a little history
of silver boxes. One day, some engineer
over at Bell labs got the bright idea
to sing to his computer,and found that
the computer responded by dialing a
fone number. Well, sort of. Anyway, the
10 digit (old style, with the # and *
blocked out) touch tone pad was born.
Lo and be hold,though, 2 sets of people
decided that 10 (now 12) buttons just
wasn't enough they needed more. The two
people of whom I am speakin are of
curse MaBell and Pa AUTOVON (the
military phone net) So Ma decided to
add an extra column to her phones,this
one merging the standard row tones
with a 1633 Hz tone (to provide the
mystical DTMF) . Bell named these
buttons A,B,C, and D (arent you glad we
have such imagintive people at the
bell system?) while the army named them
Flash, Flash override, Priority, and
priority interrupt (or is it Flash
interrupt and priority override..)
anyway... these are used as varying
degrees of priority during wartime (&
wargame) actvities so generals can call
their secretaries very quickly. Bell's
use of ABC and D is not so clear.
However, the last button (D) has an
interesting property. On about 50% of
the information lines in the country,
it will give you a pulsing dial tone.
You can then enter commands to what
appears to be a test system for 4A
boxes. Anyway,the mods Warning... turn
on your printer now, and read these
instructions several times b4 you
actually try them. Make SURE you know
how to solder... this could PERMENANTLY
damage your phone!!!

 Unscrew the two large screws on the
base of your phone. Take the cover off
and place it and the screws in a safe
place. Now, loosen (but don't remove)
the screws on the sides of the touch
tone key pad. (these are on the sides,
and attach it to its mounting brackets)
 Now CAREFULLY remove the pad from its
brackets (don'T rip any wires!) You
will notice a plastic cover on the pad.
Separate the two halves, and get them
out of your way (don't destroy them,
they'll be needed just move them down
the wire harness that goes through
them. Now look at the top of the pad
(so the 123 row is facing away, and the
*0# row toward U. Turn over the pad.
You should see a mass of wires, gold
plated contacts (yes, it's real gold),
discrete components, and 2 big dougnut
shaped black things. These R coils that
make the frequencies Ma bell was always
one for standards, so all the coils she
manufactures are capable of generating
all 4 primary tones (she only gives you
connections to three of them, though).
You are bout to make your own
connection to the 4th, and make the
third column of keys "bank switched"
between normal and 4th row. Cut three
lengths of wire of different colors
about 2 feet long (better over kill
than underkill..) I used Blue,Gray and
Brown, these colors are arbitrary but I
will be referring to these colors in
the bulletin. Look at the coil on the
left (with the 5 solder contacts facing
you,rather than being perpendicular to
you count over 4 contacts from the left
(or 2 from the right) & solder a wire
to the 4th post from the left. This is
the 1633 hZ OUTPUT. Solder the other
end of this wire to the left pole of
the smallest SPDT switch U can find.
This is the point of no return now...
take a look at the bottom edge of the
keypad. You should see a row of three
gold plated contacts (to the right of 2
very large capacitors) . Look at the
one on the left. This one controls the
rightmost bank of keys on the phone.
GENTLY!! separate the two touching
connectors (THEY ARE SOLDERED together
with a drop of solder) and spread them
apart. Solder the brown wire to the top
contact (the one futhest from you) ,
and solder it to the RIGHT pole of the
SPDT. Now, take the blue wire & solder
it to the bottom (closest) contact.
Solder the other end of this wire to
the CENTER hole of the SPDT. YOU HAVE
 NOW COMPLETED OUR MODS. When the
switch is in one position, you will get
normal tones, in the other you will get
1633 tones. Some liness can be added by passing the 3 wires through the plastic
cover, and in through the gap in the
case of UR fone Under the place where
you hang it up. Then solder the wires
to the switch in the proper places, and
you can glue the switch to the wall on
the inside of that small alcove in the
phone after taking the slack wire back
into the phone. (this just to make sure
you read the whole thing before trying
it..)   Now, call directory assistance
using normal tones (out of state, that
is) XXX 555 1212, Now switch quickly to
1633, and press down on the # key (now
the D key) . If you are on an old
switchbox (4A) , you will get a pulsing
dial tone. You can then switch back to
normal,& try dialin different numbers.
Two of the most interesting are 6 and
7. These often form a loop around type
connection,and two people can call in,
one using 6 and the other 7, and talk
in this manner. If enough people
perform this mod, I will keep "office
hours" on 1 of these.
HAPPY PHREAKING...

Cain Note: U will not recieve a pulsing
tone until the operator actually picks
up on the line. If you hear ringing,
keep pressing. The tone must be on at
the same time the operator gives her
"beep". If U hear her cursing at stupid
people with stuck buttons, chances are
this one doesn't work... try out of the
way states like Montana, Wyoming, etc.