Return-Path: Received: from MAGRITTE.SAGE.RI.CMU.EDU by K.GP.CS.CMU.EDU id aa25295; 15 Aug 95 9:39:49 EDT Received: from localhost by MAGRITTE.SAGE.RI.CMU.EDU id aa21297; 15 Aug 95 13:39 GMT Date: Tue, 15 Aug 95 09:39:14 -0400 Sender: mad@MAGRITTE.SAGE.RI.CMU.EDU From: Mark Derthick X-Mailer: Mozilla 1.1N (X11; I; HP-UX A.09.05 9000/715) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: bovik@cs.cmu.edu Subject: How to trace telephone wires through your house X-URL: file://localhost/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/bovik/Mail/index.html Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Date: Thu, 10 Aug 1995 19:54:37 -0400 (EDT) From: "Harold S. Lessure" To: Mark.Derthick@CS.CMU.EDU (Mark Derthick) Subject: Re: Clever ways to trace phone lines? Cc: In-Reply-To: <40am6j$die@cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu> References: <40am6j$die@cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu> Distribution: world short the leads at one end and use an ohmmeter and look for continuity! ------------------------------------------------ | <- this end shorted ------------------------------------------------ ^ | measure resistance here -Harold To: mad@CS.CMU.EDU (Mark Derthick) Subject: Re: Clever ways to trace phone lines? In-reply-to: Your message of "09 Aug 95 12:02:00." Date: Thu, 10 Aug 95 17:11:24 EDT From: Purvis Jackson Industrial electricians sort wires using two phones with 9v batteries and aligator clips on the wires. Clip one phone to one wire on one end of the bundle, then touch the wires on the other end of the bundle one at a time until you get a connection. Mark the wire at both ends and repeat the process for each successive wire. You should be able to do this with a 9v light or some such as well, or maybe with a small speaker on one end and a radio or other sound signal input to the other end. Good luck. Purvis Return-Path: Received: from COCORICO.SPEECH.CS.CMU.EDU by ISL1.RI.CMU.EDU id aa15679; 10 Aug 95 15:17:32 EDT From: Alex Rudnicky Reply-To: air@cs.cmu.edu Subject: Re: Clever ways to trace phone lines? To: Mark Derthick Date: Thu, 10 Aug 95 15:16:48 EDT Sender: air@COCORICO.SPEECH.CS.CMU.EDU Here's some random advice based on my experiences. Just short the wires and snoop around with a ohm-meter... If you have access to a pair of walkie-talkies (or cordless phones) you can probably speed things up. If you decide to run new wire, someone will (or should) propose running the wire up the outside of the building instead of fishing it up through the walls. This seems to work fine over time (8 yrs) and is a lot cheaper, though it has its esthetic drawbacks and you have to be careful to seal up the holes. If you fish it, run a couple of wires, or even a 12-strand. That way you'll only ever have to do it once. From: Robert Frederking Date: Thu, 10 Aug 95 14:36:34 EDT To: Mark Derthick In-reply-to: mad@CS.CMU.EDU's message of 9 Aug 1995 16:02:27 GMT Subject: Clever ways to trace phone lines? Reply-to: Robert Frederking Radio Shack, etc, sells something called a signal injector, which basically produces an audio-frequency signal. You could clip it onto the inactive jack, then poke at the open ends of the clipped off wires, and any unconnected jacks in the terminal box, until you hear the signal. Bob Date: Thu, 10 Aug 95 11:37:56 EDT From: Barry Brumitt Message-Id: <9508101537.AA03657@FRC2.FRC.RI.CMU.EDU> Received: by hoe.frc.ri.cmu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0) id AA07164; Thu, 10 Aug 95 11:34:58 EDT To: mad@cs.cmu.edu (Mark Derthick) In-Reply-To: mad@CS.CMU.EDU's message of 9 Aug 1995 16:02:27 GMT Subject: Clever ways to trace phone lines? Reply-To: belboz@frc2.frc.ri.cmu.edu (Barry Brumitt) Hook up a nine volt battery to a pair of lines somewhere. Run around with a voltmeter until you find a pair of lines upstairs reading nine volts... :) Barry ps. First thing that comes to *my* mind, anyway... To: mad@CS.cmu.edu Subject: Re: Clever ways to trace phone lines? Newsgroups: cmu.cs.general In-Reply-To: <40am6j$die@cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu> Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon Cc: Bcc: Date: Thu, 10 Aug 95 10:17:42 EDT From: segall@ATHENA.NECTAR.CS.CMU.EDU Sender: segall@ATHENA.NECTAR.CS.CMU.EDU Don't use RF, use an audio source. It is easier and less likely to be coupled to disconnected circuits. Simplest - plug the outputs of a radio (e.g. headphone jack) into one end, and a headphone into the other. Use alligator clips, which Radio Shack should have. Once you find the right pairs of wires, you'll need to check polarity, so that touch tone phones will be able to dial. You can put a diode in series with both source & sink, & then you'll know that they are connected the same way if you get sound. Then, if that way is the wrong way, you can reverse them at the source, being confident that all jacks are lined up right. Good luck, Ed Date: Wed, 9 Aug 95 20:59:58 EDT From: Thomas.Warfel@N2.SP.CS.CMU.EDU To: mad@cs.cmu.edu Subject: quick'n'dirty line tracer Take a regular (electromechanical) buzzer, or rig a machanical relay to oscillate. Hook it up to a battery. Tie one of the battery leads to the wire you want to trace. You should be able to trace the line with a cheap AM radio. The higher the inductance of the buzzer/relay, the more of a "spike" (and hence RF hash) you will generate. -Tom From: Garrett Pelton Reply-To: Gary Pelton Subject: Re: Clever ways to trace phone lines? To: Mark Derthick Date: Wed, 9 Aug 95 15:21:30 EDT Sender: gap@ACROCANTHO.SOAR.CS.CMU.EDU RF receiver and transmitter that is meant to be able to trace 120v electrical wires. It plugs into a standard 2 prong plug, and puts an RF signal on it. When you get the receiver close to the right wire, it chirps or something. It uses the 120v to power the transmitter (I think). But you could measure the resistance of the phone wires to make sure they aren't shorted, and then put 120v accross them and use this thingy. The phone system should be disconnected from the outside line, to ensure you don't damage any equipment outside. However, I don't think you will as I'm sure the phone company protects against the common problem of electrical wires shorting across phone wires. Gary Date: Wed, 9 Aug 95 12:26:57 EDT From: Richard Moore Message-Id: <9508091626.AA29383@FRC2.FRC.RI.CMU.EDU> Received: by erebus.frc.ri.cmu.edu (4.1/SMI-4.0) id AA00333; Wed, 9 Aug 95 12:24:00 EDT To: mad@cs.cmu.edu (Mark Derthick) In-Reply-To: mad@CS.CMU.EDU's message of 9 Aug 1995 16:02:27 GMT Subject: Clever ways to trace phone lines? Reply-To: rmm@frc2.frc.ri.cmu.edu (Richard Moore) Mark, there is a commercial product called "Fox and Hound" which does exactly what you said -- one box puts an RF signal on the wire and the other box detects the signal. This costs about $100 though. You might consider connecting two of the conductors at the jack you have upstairs and then use a digital VOM (volt-ohm meter) with a continutity beeper to test the ends of the wire in the basement. Just search for two wires that give you a beep and you've probably found the wires connected to your upstairs jack. I say probably because there could be a short between the wires from a different cause, so to be sure, remove the short from the upstairs jack and if the two basement wires don't beep anymore, then you definitely have your pair. Rich