Portable DTMF Generator With ABCD?
Mickey Ferguson
> besides "1234567890*
> Does anyone know of a telephone set or a portable device (with a
> speaker that could be held up to a microphone) that generates these
> tones?
> What else are these extra tones used for?
When I was in Germany last year, a co-worker of mine had a tone
generator which he used to talk to his voice mail system, since his
phone was an old analog phone. I noticed that it had not only the 0-9
and * and #, but also the A-D. I asked what they were used for, and I
found out several uses. Apparently, the military (US only? Various
other countries as well?) uses these for various communications
protocols. One use I do know of is for a feature called AMIS-analog,
a (CCITT?) standard protocol for signaling between multiple voice mail
vendors. I don't know much about it, but it apparently allows for
different voice mail systems to be able to transmit and deliver voice
messages to appear as if they are part of one network, or something
like that. (I'm probably already reaching beyond my knowledge of this
stuff now ...)
Mickey Ferguson -- Rolm -- FergusoM at scrvm2 -- mic...@vnet.ibm.com
Rich Mintz
United States are in the military, where I've heard they are used to
classify the priority of one's call.
I remember seeing in some phreak information file once some
instructions on shifting the tones in a normal touch tone dialer in
some way by tying one of the IC's pins to high or ground or something
like that. I think it was a modification designed to let one produce
the ABCD tones. It described putting a switch on the side of the unit
to switch between the normal and altered frequencies on one row of the
touch tones. If memory serves, it said that the standard IC used for
producing touch tones can make those extra tones, but that feature's
usually not enabled in the U.S.
I know this isn't much help, but your message reminded me of reading
that, and if you have a need for producing those ABCD tones, perhaps
someone here more knowledgable on the subject will know what I'm
talking about and how to do it!
Rich -> rmi...@cscihp.ecst.csuchico.edu
[Moderator's Note: You did not read it in a phreak information phile;
you read it here! PAT]
Richard Cox
various uses depending on what country you are in. In some countries
they are not permitted to be used at all, so you should get the
picture! However, the KIRK telephone (made in Denmark) has the full
16-tone keypad operational.
I have a few left here but don't know whether there would be any
import or export problems from Wales to Canada. The Telrad keyphone
system (called the LS90 over here) allows user keys to be preprogrammed
to generate these extra codes. I believe this system is sold in the
USA (and Canada ?)
Richard Cox
Mandarin Technology, Cardiff Business Park, Llanishen, CARDIFF, Wales CF4 5WF
Voice: +44 222 747111 Fax: +44 222 711111 VoiceMail: +44 399 870101
E-mail: mand...@cix.compulink.co.uk
Jim Rees
The standard old Western Electric DTMF pad had an extra tap on the
"columns" inductor for the ABCD keys. I think there were even some
traces on the PC board, but of course the switches weren't there.
The Audio Response Unit (ARU) on the University of Michigan's IBM
mainframe (running MTS) had a decoder for a third dimension of DTMF
keys, so you could send it tone triads, for 64 possible "keys." I
never knew anyone who used this feature. I've got the frequencies
somewhere. They were not engineered for minimum talk-off, as the row
and column tones were, they were just round numbers like 1550, 1650,
1750.
Does anyone remember the original WE 10-key pad? I had some of these
that I converted to 12-key by drilling a hole in the face and adding a
couple of chunks of plastic for the '*' and '#' buttons.
Phil Wherry
the ABCD tones; just put them in a dialing command as you would any
number.
Phillip Wherry Member of the Technical Staff
The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA p...@mitre.org
Ron Dippold
> The DTMF standard allows for up to 16 touch tones. I believe the four
> besides "1234567890*
> Does anyone know of a telephone set or a portable device (with a
> speaker that could be held up to a microphone) that generates these
> tones?
Some phones have them, most phones can have them added (otherwise
known as a grey or silver box depending on whose colors you believe).
Quite a few of the "smart phones" for conferencing have them (with
another name). The Novation Apple-CAT could dial them, and there are
several computer programs that will generate them (as well as many
other telcom tones such as KP1, etc.)
> What else are these extra tones used for?
AUTOVON (the military) used them. The tones are otherwise designated
as Flash, Immediate, Priority, and Routine (with variations).
Some voice mail / company phone systems use them. It's an extra four
buttons to attack commands to in addition to "*" and "#"!
They used to be useful in areas that had an automatic call distributor
(ACD). You'd call directory assistance (555-1212) and hold down the
"D" key to knock the operator off the line ("Oh, another SOB who
called and then hung up!"). You then get a pulsing dial tone that
indicates that you're in ACD test mode. 6 and 7 would put you
opposite sides of a loop, you could supposedly do a REMOB test which
would allow you to tap phone lines using a special code and then the
seven-digit phone number. Mass conferencing, etc. Even in 1984 ACDs were
hard to find, however. I doubt anyone still uses them. In fact, with
ESS it could be dangerous to try it.
Leonard Erickson
> It should be noted that Hayes-compatible modems are capable of dialing
> the ABCD tones; just put them in a dialing command as you would any
> number.
Alas, many of the newer ones are capable of translating those "cute"
numbers like 1-800-ABCDEFG. Which means that when you dial A, B or C
you get 2. And you get 3 for D. *Older* Hayes and USR modems could
dial the ABCD tones. <sigh>
Leonard Erickson leo...@qiclab.scn.rain.com
CIS: [70465,203] 7046...@compuserve.com
FIDO: 1:105/51 Leonard....@f51.n105.z1.fidonet.org
(The CIS & Fido addresses are preferred)
[Moderator's Note: When dialing letters on the modem aren't they
required to be put in quotes, i.e. 'DIAL THIS'. I'd think the modem
could see that 123-'ABCD' was different than 123-ABCD (no quotes). PAT]
Ken Thompson
repeaters. Does anyone have an answer to the first part of the
original question? Are there any portable tone generators available
these days that inclule all 16 tone pairs?
Ken Thompson N0ITL
NCR Corp. Peripheral Products Division Disk Array Development
3718 N. Rock Road Wichita KS 67226 (316) 636-8783
Ken.Th...@wichitaks.ncr.com
Dave Grabowski
(higher) column tone added. If you have a DTMF generator, they can be
useful: If you have a Voice Mail Box, you can often use onf of the
ABCD tones (back when I was a phreak, they were always referred to as
autovon tones) in your passcode. It will prevent access to your box by
just about anyone - the person would need to KNOW your passcode, and
he/she would ALSO need something that would generate the tones
(although, most AT-compatible modems can do them, these days).
My two cents.
Dave