Comments on: Making a Red Box out of a Tone Dialer

By: nUkE

nUkE — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 16:43:46 +0000

I have one of the olllld school units, model 43-141. Its lost the plastic and paper inserts for the back cover, but the two part plastic battery cover is in perfect shape.

The date code sticker, protected by its location under the battery door, says 8A3, which decodes to August of 1993. It was apparently one of the last units made prior to the revision, and was definitely the last unit on the shelves of my major city in the Southeastern USA.

As a kid the closest crystal I could find was 6.304MHz, and I scoured the local electronics shops and the innards of all things electronic which I disassembled. This was in 1994, pre-internet. Last time I tested it was in 1996, at a payphone which had not yet been replaced/upgraded by Bell.

It does not work on the newer payphones. These newer units only accept input from the microphone after coins have been deposited. The microphone needs to be working in order for the red box to be “heard” by the payphone. If you can walk up to a payphone and pick up the handset and blow into the microphone, if you can hear the sound of your breath in the earpiece, you have a chance of the redbox working on that payphone.

Some of you might be familiar with the saying “it’s close enough for Government work,” referring to how something is’t quite right, but it’ll work in the end.

Well, 6.304MHz is close enough for Bell work!

The tolerances I found, not only between tones but also with timing, are kind of wide…

By: cbarchmil

cbarchmil — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:48:34 +0000

Stumbled upon this article with a tone dialer. Does anyone have a new/used working one available for purchase (not modified)? My church is in desperate need of the old style to work our hymn boards believe it or not! Any help would be appreciated.

By: bjinbelize

bjinbelize — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:19:40 +0000

New Model is 65-721

By: How To Dial Out | PaperStreet

How To Dial Out | PaperStreet — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:44:20 +0000

[...] MySpace profile. It’s based on this same craziness above & an old hacker device called a red box… Basically, if you could take the track back in time & play it into a Fortress phone, you [...]

By: Nick

Nick — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 10:19:41 +0000

So… I made a redbox. And it works in Illinois.

And Red-Handed, I want details. How bad were you punished?
That sucks, sir.

By: Red-Handed

Red-Handed — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:39:29 +0000

I was in the Marines in 1994 stationed at 29 Palms attending the communications electronics school. Guys in my class brought me one of these and asked me how it worked and I told them. Next thing I knew, they were everywhere. Eventually, the did a base-wide “health and comfort” inspection, and found a great many red boxes. I got ratted out and fingered as the mastermind, even though I only used one the same as everyone else. I stood NJP in front of the battalion Colonel and was severly punished. It certainly wasn’t worth the $2.75 phone call.

By: SenorBubbz

SenorBubbz — Thu, 15 May 2008 00:30:20 +0000

That’s wrong.
Here in New York, red boxes still work.

By: rre

rre — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 18:23:56 +0000

yes, in 2007 AND 2008 you can still make a redbox and a redbox will still work.
the problem here is with the operative words you’re using. you’re asking the wrong questions.

you can still build a redbox today if you can get the right parts. all the links on this page will still get you to the right parts manufacturers and i’ve seen radioshack tonedialers on ebay.

a redbox will still work because for a redbox to work all it has to do is produce the tones.

if you want to know if you can still use a redbox to fool a payphone you are out of luck

By: ye0j

ye0j — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 16:16:57 +0000

i was also wondering if is still possilbe to make a redbox now in 2007 since the original ones are kinda old

By: DigitBase10

DigitBase10 — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 21:42:56 +0000

Hello, I have one of the original tone dialers (43-141). I am wondering if these are worth anything now? This one is unmodified, has original box, owners manual and looks brand new.

By: BoB

BoB — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 04:40:38 +0000

I see that this red box is of some age now, does this red box still work now in 2007????