9 Mar
2017
9 Mar
'17
3:06 p.m.
From: "Steve Johnson"
This reminds me of a story from that era. One of the
mainframe computers
had the ability to place phone calls and a program was run every night
to collect data from far-flung teletypes [which had been pre-loaded with
data tapes]. ... On day the operators realized that there were two
phone numbers in Nebraska that were getting called every weekday night,
and the numbers were very similar. They suspected one was a wrong
number, so they listened in on the calls to see which one was real. The
phone rang in Nebraska at 2am and was answered by a sleepy man .. The
man was heard to say "It's all right, Bertha. It's just that nut with a
whistle again!"
Interesting: I've heard this same story, but told about TIPs and the ARPANET.
A computer at BBN was set up to regularly dial all the TIP modem lines, to
check that they were working. One line was always down, so they listened in,
and heard some human say "it's just that pevert with the whistle again".
I wonder which one was the original: anyone know for sure?
Noel
9 Mar
9 Mar
4:31 p.m.
New subject: Harasing whistlers (Was: UUCP mis-history?)
I don't buy either story. The ORIGINATING modems in the 103 days didn't
make any sound. It was the answering modem that whistled.
Anyhow, one other TIP/MODEM story (this one was true), we that when we were
in college at JHU, the closest TIP was a long distance call from the
Baltimore.
Mike Muuss placed a collect call to the Pentagon TIP, explaining to the
operator that we were calling a computer and if it answered with a tone, it
accepted the charges.
Worked a few times.
Of course,later on Brian Redman and Peter Langston were messing around with
a programmable PBX and set the thing to anser the phone:
Bell Communications Research (long pause) Yes, Operator! I'll accept the
charges.
More often than not, the timing was just about right for the operator to say
"I have a collect call from Ron Natalie" in the pause.
9:29 p.m.
New subject: Harasing whistlers (Was: UUCP mis-history?)
On Thu, 9 Mar 2017, Noel Chiappa wrote:
Interesting: I've heard this same story, but told
about TIPs and the
ARPANET. A computer at BBN was set up to regularly dial all the TIP
modem lines, to check that they were working. One line was always down,
so they listened in, and heard some human say "it's just that pevert
with the whistle again".
I wonder which one was the original: anyone know for sure?
Now that takes me back; urban myth, because the calling modem didn't
squeak until the called modem did.
--
Dave Horsfall DTM (VK2KFU) "Those who don't understand security will
suffer."
10:54 p.m.
New subject: Harasing whistlers (Was: UUCP mis-history?)
Or it THOUGHT it heard a tone - some people's voices could trigger it.
Or the actual bells still ringing for a short period of time after you
picked up the handset even.
Some of the acoustic couplers I played around with would start signing
when people were talking in the same room, or certain music was playing.
I did a lot of work with 300 (103 standard) and 1200 baud modems (both
202 and 212 standard), and some of them were very quirky. I'm trying to
remember if the 202 initiated any tones on the originating side, but I
can't remember.
The 202 standard is still in use to transmit caller ID on phone lines
between the 1st and 2nd rings.
Also, if they were used for dial-back, they could have been set to
originate.
On 3/9/2017 4:29 PM, Dave Horsfall wrote:
On Thu, 9 Mar 2017, Noel Chiappa wrote:
Interesting: I've heard this same story, but
told about TIPs and the
ARPANET. A computer at BBN was set up to regularly dial all the TIP
modem lines, to check that they were working. One line was always down,
so they listened in, and heard some human say "it's just that pevert
with the whistle again".
I wonder which one was the original: anyone know for sure?
Now that takes me back;
urban myth, because the calling modem didn't
squeak until the called modem did.
10 Mar
10 Mar
12:31 a.m.
New subject: Harasing whistlers (Was: UUCP mis-history?)
It's not hard to whistle a handshake. I've been able to get a modem to connect.
Of course actual data is out of the question. It's just loud sharp tones, then just
match pitch, the other modem will change a few times and just match it.
It was a silly trick whistling to modems, but these days nobody has one. And I can't
say I miss dialup.
On March 10, 2017 5:29:29 AM GMT+08:00, Dave Horsfall <dave(a)horsfall.org> wrote:
On Thu, 9 Mar 2017, Noel Chiappa wrote:
--
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
Interesting: I've heard this same story, but
told about TIPs and the
ARPANET. A computer at BBN was set up to regularly dial all the TIP
modem lines, to check that they were working. One line was always
down,
so they listened in, and heard some human say
"it's just that pevert
with the whistle again".
I wonder which one was the original: anyone know for sure?
Now that takes me back; urban myth, because the calling modem didn't
squeak until the called modem did.
--
Dave Horsfall DTM (VK2KFU) "Those who don't understand security will
suffer."
2615
days inactive
2616
days old
4 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
-
Arthur Krewat -
Dave Horsfall -
Jason Stevens -
jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu -
Ron Natalie