How to make a telephone blue box or self made phone device? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: chris_wang87
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2012, 02:29:47 am
content: Recently, I am reading the book 'Steve Jobs: A Biography'.There was a telephone blue box designed by Wozniak. Is it still be possible to make such a device?Do anyone know how to make it or what kinds of knowledge are required for make such a device? Or do anyone know how to make maybe just a device that could make a phone call with SIM card?Are there any books or textbook which are related to make a telephone? How hard would it be to make a cellphone by oneself with zero background of everything?And the question for verification is always 'What is 84 divided by 2?'Good to me. Calculator is only required for two times.Many thanks, guys.

author: MikeK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2012, 02:34:11 am
content: Of course you can make one, but it would no longer work. The phone companies no longer use the systems that the phreaking boxes took advantage of. Sorry, but you missed it by about 30 years.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2012, 02:38:14 am
content: Quote from: chris_wang87 on December 23, 2012, 02:29:47 amImpossible.Quote....

author: c4757p
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2012, 03:35:49 am
content: QuoteHey, no fair, you're better at math than me! I had to keep whipping out my calculator for that one for a week before I had it memorized!

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2012, 09:08:42 am
content: Quote from: c4757p on December 23, 2012, 03:35:49 amEven though it's the answer toeverything?

author: Jon Chandler
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2012, 09:53:40 am
content: 73 Magazine had a series of articles that explained the workings of the phone system and blue boxes. The magazine is available now in an on-line archive.Inside MA Bell. This index page links to several articles.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2012, 10:01:19 am
content: You can make a wired telephone from scratch, using nothing more than a magnet, a lot of thin enamelled wire to wind the hybrid transformer and earpiece, a transformer core for the hybrid and another for the bell, a capacitor to do the bell isolation, a switch for the hook and some ground carbon and a holder to make the microphone. Add some thin steel sheet for the diaphragms and some basic woodworking and it will do for receiving calls. To make calls you will have to make a rotary dial unit to do pulse dialling ( most exchanges still accept pulse dialling for initial number entry, though the advanced features need DTMF to access them ) or you will have to make the 7 LC circuits ( and the 7 transistors to make them oscillate) to make DTMF tones and a switch matrix to send them down the line.

author: G7PSK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2012, 01:46:28 pm
content: Wozniak may be good but he is not that good he did not make the Blue phone box that was the Doctor.http://youtu.be/GqEblHtpfe0

author: chris_wang87
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2012, 03:50:20 pm
content: Haha, thanks buddy. 30 years is not too long, isn`t it? Jaja. maybe it is a long time. So are there any chance to take advantage of systems nowadays?Quote from: MikeK on December 23, 2012, 02:34:11 am

author: chris_wang87
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2012, 03:57:30 pm
content: ... ImpossibleThat means that I can never make one by myself.So how about some signal receiver or sender. Like in a movie, people were trapped on a island or somewhere, is that possible to make a signal sender and receiver to ask for help? Or maybe just earthquake. I dont know just some stuff that could let others know the location of somebody.Quote from: Monkeh on December 23, 2012, 02:38:14 am

author: chris_wang87
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2012, 04:00:57 pm
content: Hahahahah,because I write the result on a paper stick so that I do not need to calculate again...Quote from: c4757p on December 23, 2012, 03:35:49 am

author: chris_wang87
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2012, 04:05:41 pm
content: A sentence comes 'Everything is nothing' to me, I could not care less.....'...Quote from: TerraHertz on December 23, 2012, 09:08:42 am

author: chris_wang87
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2012, 04:10:21 pm
content: Thank you very much. The link is really helpful.Thumb-up... Very interesting...first step into electronics...Quote from: Jon Chandler on December 23, 2012, 09:53:40 am

author: chris_wang87
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2012, 04:14:55 pm
content: That is amazing. Thank you very much...So I could follow your steps....hahaha... Great... I like to make stuffs...thenand rebuilt...Quote from: SeanB on December 23, 2012, 10:01:19 am

author: chris_wang87
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2012, 04:23:55 pm
content: The music is scary...That one is fantastic...The Doctor is a legend...%-BQuote from: G7PSK on December 23, 2012, 01:46:28 pm

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2012, 04:31:33 pm
content: Enough with all the%-Bin one message. I get dizzy from watching this page....As for the blue box. That is nothing more than a dtmf generator that could send all 16 dtmf codes. 10 numerals, * #. And A B C D the abcd were used for things like coin drop . Put in a quarter and A gets transmitted or something like that. Doesnt work like that anymore. But any DTMF chip can do this. Things like Mitels MT8800 series. They have encoders and decoders.

author: chris_wang87
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 24, 2012, 02:29:39 am
content: Sorry about those dizzy stuff. And many thanks for your advice. There are words that I dont really know. I think maybe now it is better for me to start from beginning, at least understand those words, like dtmf, Mitels MT8800... Hihi. Thanks a lot. And merry christmas.....Quote from: free_electron on December 23, 2012, 04:31:33 pm

author: EvilGeniusSkis
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2014, 02:51:53 am
content: I had the thought that one could make a smartphone app that made all the blue box sounds. It's to bad there isn't a small network setup using blue/red/black box-able tech simply for educational purposes.

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2014, 08:55:42 am
content: Can you make a simple transmitter and receiver? And use them to communicate to other people near and far?Sure. People have been doing that since your grandfather was a kid. They are called Amateur Radio Operators or "hams".You must have a license to transmit, but that is easy enough to get that even kids do it all the time.

author: Macbeth
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2014, 06:15:43 pm
content: Sigh. Fond memories. Back in the days of the old British Telecom Strowger exchanges it was very easy to make a box that would give free calls, or using a DPDT switch, allow incoming calls for free for the other party. I started making a load of these and sold them to some "gangster" type who wanted to sell them on to bookies in Manchester. Last I heard he was looking for me to break my legs. I didn't know Manchester had upgraded all their exchanges to System-X and the boxes didn't work anymore. A very famous Liverpool actor put me on to him.Later, pre-internet days, I would use a sneaky piece of software on my Commodore Amiga called "RoxBox" that would generate the internal DTMF tones that similar exchanges to System-X (which was by ancient by then) used. The great thing was, lots of less developed countries still used this stuff. So I would call the international operator of Argentina, say, using their freephone 800 number. Before the operator answered with ¡Hola! I could send a break signal, then the DTMF for numerous USA wide BBS systems. So much warez for free!Nowadays, with the internet, it's all there on a plate. Kids don't know they are born these days. I mean I had to find my nudie mags in the woods that mysterious people would stash in plastic bags. YOU PESKY KIDS, GET OFF MY LAWN!

author: DJohn
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2014, 07:46:15 pm
content: Quote from: chris_wang87 on December 23, 2012, 03:57:30 pmSome years ago there was a TV series in the UK called Rough Science. A bunch of scientists were sent out to some remote location and had to make various things from whatever they could find around them (plus a few special items planted by the producers).In one episode they had to do just that - make a device that could communicate over a long distance. I think they used a spark gap transmitter, old-school cat's whisker receiver, and sent a message by morse code.Worth watching if you ever get a chance.

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2014, 08:01:10 pm
content: Rough Science Completehttp://youtu.be/lUoDWAt259I?list=PLMC_-FtZbKXJRIWszjknt63nR9ETWS8rY