***Conversion box*** by Captain B

Test sets (Lineman handsets) are obviously a useful phreak tool for beige
boxing. But, unless you're willing to drop a couple hundred bucks to buy
one at your local authorized Harris telecom products dealer, dumpster dive
for one, or take the chance doing the ol' 5 finger discount with some Ma
Bell truck, It's better to use a one-piece phone (Like the Apollo or
Super-mini flip phones from Radio Hack, or the ConAir flip phone availible
at K mart stores). Or, you could convert a phone that has a keypad in the
handset to a psuedo test set for beige boxing purposes (As I'll be
discussing here). Yes, you could also convert a phone without a keypad in
the handset, but you'd better have a way of sending DTMF via acoustic
coupling, such as with a tone dialer (If you can still find one at the
local Radio Hack). Also, since most lineman handsets have features that
are either on most phones, or not absolutlely needed for the more
exclusive features, It's just all the more reason to beige box with a
regular phone. The driving principal behind making this is very similar to
the one used for the Bungee box. Because, you'll be modifying a handset
cord for this. The difference is that only 1 end of the handset cord will
me modded. Here's what you'll need...

*A handset cord
*Modular crimp tool
*Wire cutter (Unless the crimp tool has it built in)

You'll also first want to check how many conductors there are inside your
phone handset. If It's 2 conductors, It'll be simpler. If there's more
than 2, it becomes necessary to isolate which 2 wires are used to power
the handset. (Well, at least that's it was with a 4 wire phone handset I
was converting). To check the amount of conductors in the handset, remove
the handset cord and look inside the hole where the handset plug from the
cord goes. Hopefully, It's 2 conductors. And yes, you check the number of
conductors in the handset cord instead, but since handset cords always
seem to have 4 conductors when bought as new, that could mislead you. I'll
go more into isolating the 2 wires involved for powering the handset on a
4 conductor handset cord in a minute. Let's get into making this. Take the
handset cord, look first at the little wires in the plug to observe for
the color scheme (Thus making note of correct polarity) then, cut off that
handset cord plug as close as possible with where it connects to the cord.
Carefully, strip off a bit of the insulation using the modular crimp
tool's stripper. Take a 2 line (RJ14) modular line cord plug, and push the
line cord plug over the end of the handset cord, facing the same way as
the previous handset cord plug was. (In other words, if the little spring
clip on the handset cord plug was facing down, crimp the line cord plug on
facing the same way as that was). Then insert that end of the handset cord
into the modular crimp tool properly, and squeeze the handles together
firmly until it stops (which is quite fast). See the instuctions that came
with the modualar crimp tool if you need more help. Now, if a 2 conductor
handset was used, you can just plug it into any working modular jack. If
the handset has more than 2 conductors, connect up an in-line coupler
(Female-to-female RJ14 connector). Then, connect a modified 2-line (RJ14)
line cord (with 4 alligator clips) on the other end of the in-line
coupler. Try connecting the clips in different combinations of 2 at a time
to the screws holding the red and green wires inside a modular jack or out
at the TNI until you get a dial tone. Of course, you'll want to either
remove the cover from the modular jack by unscrewing the center screw, or
prying it off if it has no screw to access the 42A block with screw
terminals inside. Or, in the case of the TNI, open it on the Telco access
side using a 3/8 hex bit on a 1/4 drive ratchet or spinner handle. (These
can be found at Home Depot stores). In a TNI, the red and green wires run
from the subsciber modules contained in the customer side to the screw
termianls on the telco side. Use that for reference. (Disregard the other
colored wires there). If you only have one line service, make sure you
connect up to the 2 screw terminals that have phone service, of course.
Otherwise, there won't be a dial tone, of course. The conversion box makes
for a handy placebo to a lineman's handset, don't you think? As always, be
careful and have phun. --


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