***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. --