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comment by kleinbl00
kleinbl00  ·  2563 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: March 22, 2017

Analog phone lines can easily induce signal on each other in areas where the lines are poorly insulated. If there's any analog switching equipment anywhere between handsets, one conversation can easily jump lines.

Ever seen one of these?

You plug the tracer into the wall, turn on the tone, and then wave the probe over this giant wall of shit

until the thing in your hand starts going "tweedleleedleeedleedleedle" and then you know which two of eighty gajillion wires go to that wall. But you never actually interrupt the circuit anywhere - that tweedling you hear is a magnetic field being generated over twisted pair.





steve  ·  2561 days ago  ·  link  ·  

hey man... that fox and hound is a fun little tool... It can be your best friend.

kleinbl00  ·  2561 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Fox'n'hound is a great name. I've always called it a "tweedler." Made sense because we called this a "thumper."

steve  ·  2561 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I had the fortune of learning most of what I know from an old ATT/Bell Labs dude. He called it the fox and hound.

I think tweedler is genius.

That thumper is the stuff nightmares are made of.

kleinbl00  ·  2561 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I told people at least a dozen times that it was to draw the sandworms out.

snoodog  ·  2562 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Yeah I'd expect that on analog but on a digital blackberry I don't understand how that happens.

lm  ·  2563 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Hey, I got one of those in a set of drawers I bought a while back...never quite knew what it was for. Now I'll have to see if I can repurpose it for something fun!