From: nitejoker@aol.

com (NiteJoker) Reply-To: nitejoker@aol.com (NiteJoker)

Newsgroups: alt.2600Subject: PHREAKING - A guide for beginnersDate: 31 Aug 1995
01:51:22 -0400Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Message-ID:
<423ikq$bpc@newsbf02.news.aol.com> Simple, easy to read, and informative. Don't get
caught. Read thedisclaimer. /-------------------\
| Becoming A Phreaker |
+---------------------+ |The Quick n' Easy Way|
\ ---------------------/ /-------------\
< By NightJoker >
\ -------------/So, you want to be a phreaker, and you want to do it
the Quick 'n EasyWay, eh? Well, no fear, your obdn't servant, NightJoker is here!
ifyou've been a wannabe phreaker for years, but don't have the patienceor know-how
to make some of the more advanced boxes, this is for you.This file will show how to
make one of the easiest boxes, which willmake your life fun, and your enemies
cringe (OK, maybe not *cringe*exactly, more like be really pissed off...) . Using
readily availibleparts from your nearest Radio Shack, you too can be up there with
theranks of Cap'n Crunch (well, you'd actually have to do something prettydamn
daring or revoulutionary, but practice, practice, practice!) .Notice the lack of ALL
CAPS or an�n�oy#�ing giȜbb��eri�sh. This iseasy to read, easy to follow, and lots
of phun. I've done my best tomake it so that the instructions can be followed if
some of the theASCII art gets fucked up in the transfer. Just wing it.The BEIGE
BoxThe beige box is the primary source of entertainment for the phreaker. With some
experience, you can successfully make long distance phonecalls, obscene/prank
calls, and other stuff, all on someone else'sbill. The beige box is simply a ripoff
linemans handset. You know, thebright orange ones that you see linemans holding
while they cling to atelephone pole? But of course, no phreaker in their right mind
is goingto climb up a pole! You're going to stay nice and safe on the ground.All
this is is a normal phone with a special cable. Simple.The construction: Now
using the minimmum of parts, you could create a basic beigebox.(1) Phone cable with
the wires color-coded(1) Telephone(2) Alligator clips, green and red.It's best to
use an X-Acto-style knife, or a utility knife.Now, find a phone cable (the one that
goes between the wall and phone,not the handset cable) . It should be a couple feet
long. Carefullyslice it open near on plug - do it slowly, and not too deep, so
thatyou dont cut any wires. Peel it open slightly, and if you see severalwires that
are colored, great. If all you see is some wires that aren'tcolored, forget it,
that'll be too hard (tape it up with some scotchtape, maybe your mom won't notice) .
Now that you've found your cable, cut off one end, a few inches fromthe connector.
Save this connector (with a few inches of cable) forlater. Slice the covering back
3-4 inches, and cut it off, leaving thecolored wires intact. There sould be four
wires - red, green, black,and yellow. To be able to use the wire for other things
later, tapethe black and yellow paralell to the cable, so they won't get into the
way. Now, strip abot a half an inch of the red and green wires. Tostrip it, take
your knife, and lay the cable on a hard table. Take thered wire, and press it to
the table with your finger, about 2 inchesfrom the end. Taking the knife, position
it about a half an inch fromthe end, the point on the wire. Slowly and gently,
swipe the knife AWAYfrom you, towards the end of the wire. You should make a thin
cutalong the wire. If you have not cut all the way through, do it again. Carefully
separate the wire from the insulation. You should have awire, with the end
splitting into a piece of insulation and a piece ofwire. Cut off the insulation -
dont cut the wire! Do the same thingfor the green wire. Now, you should have a
phone cable, with a connector at one end, and asripped green and red wire at the
other end.Go to the nearest electronic store. They should sell little baggies of
alligator clips with colored plastic sheathes - make sure they don'thave wire
attatched to them. These cost about $1.50. Buy (orotherwise get) a bag that has a
red and green clip. Now, take your redand green clips, and slip the sheathe off of
them. They should slideright off, and leave the metal clip that has a small screw
attatched toit, or a tab with a hole in it. Unscrew the screw until there isenough
space to wrap the wire around it. Wrap the properly colored wirearound it, and
screw it in. Or, stick the wire in the tab, and wrap itaround a few times, until
ther is no stripped wire left.Give it alittle tug to see if it's secure. Put the
sheathe back on. Do it tothe other wire. OK, you now have a phone cord, that
has a plug atone end, and a redand green alligator clip, attached to the same
colored wires, at theother end. Your're done!
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | *Into
Your Phone Attach the clips to these| | *
, | | * +++Black.......,... |
| +-----+ / / +++++ , . | | +-+
|-------------/---/------------+++++++++++++++Red,,,,,, . | | +-+
|-----------//--//-------------+++++++++++++++Green,,,, . | | +-----+
/ / +++++ . | |
+++Yellow.......... | |
. | | . |
| Tape these back................. |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+NOTE: If you
(A) can't find the right cable, or (B) are too damn lazy,Radio Shack sells cables
with a standard phone connector at one end,and spade lugs connected to the colored
wires at the other end. Justcut off the connecors, and strip the wires.How to use
it:How old is your house? If it was built or if the phone system wasupgraded
within the last 20 years, go to the side of the house whereyour gas and electrical
meters are. You should find the power box(where the breakers are) that wierd
things with all the pipes and ameter (the gas thingie) , and, maybe, a grey box with
some wiresattatched to it. Now, this might be your cable hookup, but if there'sa
Bell logo on it, that's probably it. If you can't find it, look inthe backyard.
Once you've found it, see if there is some sort of bolton it. If it dosen't have
one, reach under the box, and find the edgeof the cover. Grab it, and pull down
and out. It should open up. Ifit dosen't, try the sides, or the top. If it sitll
dosen't, look againfor a bolt. If there is one, go to the handy-dandy hardware
store, andget yourself a 7/16 inch hex driver. This should open up the box. This
can also be used to open up other kinds of telco switch boxes. Once you have it
open, you may see several things:= Four wires, red, green, black, and yellow,
hooked up to four posts bya screw.= A bunch of wires - look for the red, green,
black, and yellow ones.= If you live in an apartment building, a bunch of rows of
plastic,with metal tabs sticking out of them. There should be wires coming outof
most of the tabs, that are colored red, green, black, and yellow. They should be
labeld with apartment numbers or phone numbers. Lookfor yours.= One or two thick
cables, connected to something else. This is acable box, bozo. If you want free
cable, figure it out.= A shitload of spiders. Get the RAID.Now, get a phone - the
ones that are the "slimline" kind are the best,or the kind that are just a handset,
and no base are better. Plug yourmodified cable into this. Making sure that the
switch for the handsetis down, clip the red clip to the post/terminal witht the red
wire. This is the RING terminal. It's usually on the right - remember thephreakers
adage: ring-red-right. Connect the green clip to the greenwired post/terminal.
Make sure they are firmly attached, and nottouching any other wires. Now, pick the
phone up, and (hopefully) youshould hear a dial tone. If not, adjust the clips
(can't touch anyother posts, remember!) . If that dosen't work, then switch the
clips(if that's the problem, just switch the colored insulation on theclips) .
+--------------------------------------------------------------+ |
The Telephone Network Box | |
+--------------------+ | | |
| | | Green ----------> x<........> x ---------
Red | | | . |
| | | . | |
| | ............... Put the clips on these|
| | | |
| Ignore ----------> x x<--------- Ignore | |
| | | | |
|
| | +--------------------+ |
 +--------------------------------------------------------------+If you
live in an apartment building:
+-------------------------------------------------------------+ |
............Yellow | | .
| | . .........Black |
| . . | |
+----.--.----+ | | Green Tip.... - - -
-.....Red Ring | | | - - - - |
| | | - - - - | |
| | - - - - | The Telephone "Punchdown Block"| |
| - - - - | Usually found in office and | | | - - -
- | apartment buildings. | | | - - - - |
NOTE: TIP and RING might be | | | - - - - | switched,
depending on the | | | - - - - | building.
| | | - - - - | |
| | - - - - | | |
| - - - - | | |
+------------+ |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+NOTE: first try
this on your own line. That way, you can fiddle withit all you want, and not get
in trouble (unless someone's on thephone) . Congrats! If it works, great! If it
dosen't, go back andcheck what you did.The Phun You Can Have:Obviously, this has to
be good for something! Remember, this isliterally and extension of their phone,
keep that in mind. So hereis some stuff:= Make free calls. Hopefully, the box
is somewhere secluded. Make allthe calls you want! But, tell the person that you
may have to hang upquickly. Tell them that when this happens, they should hang up
quick,too. Don't stay on for too long! You can get caught this way, ifsomeone
tries to call alot, or someone picks up the phone and hearssomeone else having a
convesation! Be careful.= Getting someone in trouble. Call a radio station (most
have callerID) . Start cussing your brains out. Say that everyone should worship
satan, fuck jesus, eat SPAM, or whatever. Hopefully, they'll track thenumber down.
Or call a bomb threat to the police. They'll alwaystrace the call. Perhaps, call
the operator, and start fucking around. NOTE: don't do this to someone you don't
know. Only do it to realpricks who deserve it. And DON'T call 911. Their
response is shittyalready, don't make it worse for some guy with a shard of glass
in hisskull.= Eavesdropping. Get a phone that has a MUTE button. Tape it down
SECURELY! If you hold it down, the line could get noisy, and theymight get
suspicious. Record it, and blackmail 'em if it's juicy! Butbe careful, extortion
is a federal offense.Some Tips:Try to look inconspicuous - don't go wearing a hot
pink raincoat. Ifgoing a night, wear dark clothes. Keep all your stuff in a small
backpack. Case the place first - look to see if there's a car in thedriveway. Are
alot of lights on? Look for the box in the obviousplaces - if you can't find it,
skip it. Try to find a house that looksempty, or has alot of bushes by the box. If
you crouch, and it's dark,you might not be seen by the idle jogger or walker. If
you're reallyparanoid, wear a fake moustache. Also, wear some kind of gloves.
People are paranoid, and might get the box dusted. (You can never betoo careful!)
If someone does pick up the phone whale you are doingyour stuff, either hang up,
or, for a better chance at them not comingout, say something like "Oops, must be a
crossed line." Maybe saysomething about the phone guys doing something on the
poles thismorning. In either case, LEAVE FAST! Don't forget to close the box,or
they'll know someone was there. And always tell the person you aretalking to that
you might have to leave quick and they should hang upquick also. If you are over
21, try to look like a telco guy. Get afishing tackle box, and but your stuff in
it. If someone hearssomething on the line, and then see's a telco guy walking
away, theymight not get suspicious. Or, if you can get a REAL telco outfit,
complete with belt with all the tools, and an orange/blue/yellow hardhat with the
local service logo, get real ballsy, and knock on the door and say "Hello
ma'am/sir, I need to run some line tests, we've beenhaving some problems with the
trunk lines, and I need to check some ofthe houses on this block. Could you not
use the phone for the nexthalf an hour? Thanks." Try not to piss in your pants.
Right beforeyou leave, tell them "All done here, thanks." Remembet to spraypaint
the phone orange. Oh, and another thing, don't do it in your ownneighborhood!
Someone might see you, or there might be a nosy old guyacross the street, and he
might say "Joe, I saw that kid of Marty'ssnooping around today." Busted. Also, be
wary of "Neighborhood Watch"areas - this is full of people with binoculars and 911
on the speeddial. If someone happens to see you messing with their stuff, look as
innocent as possible. Say something like "My friends dared me to do it- they said
I was chicken unless I went to someone's house and calledthem! Please, don't tell
anyone! My parents will KILL me! Pleaseohplease!. Oh god, uncle Gene's gonna kill
me! Oh Jesus,please! I was just trying to prove something to my friends!" Maybe
start to sob. You might just get off with a lecture. If you arewearing some sort
of disguise, maybe try to make a run for it. Ditchthe disguise, and make like
nothing happend. Another thing - you maywant to buy a 10-20 foot cable, so you can
connect to their phone box,and sit in the bushes a bit away, and have your phun.
Advanced Stuff For The Beige Box:If you know what you are doing, here's some
suggestions:= Wire a switch in line with the microphone so you can flip it in and
out of the circut. This is a helluva lot cleaner than a MUTE button,but make sure
to switch it on or off before you pick up the phone, sothere won't be any abnormal
noise.= If it's the kind that is just a handset, you might want to install aswitch
for an on-off switch, instead of having the switch on the bottomdown.= Wire an "in-
use" light into it, so that you don't pick up the phoneon someone.Remember, you are
treading into illegal territory. Don't get caught,unless you like dishing out
100,000-200,000 buckaroos and/or having"Crusher Moe" breating down your neck for 1-
5 years. And don't bragabout your phun openly - who knows, maybe Ma Bell is
listening! Bragbehind a name (like me!) .DISCLAIMER I, the guy named NightJoker, do
not accept any responsibilityfor any damage you, the reader, may cause. I will not
pay bail, beyour lawyer, or bake cakes with hacksaws in them. If you get caught,
you are screwed, because I can't help you. In other words: it ain'tmy fault!