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Historical Cyber security Collectable RARE - $175 (RAMONA)
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Yes! This is an original working Cap’n Crunch bo’sun whistle from the 1960-70’s era that was used for “Phone Phreaking”, This is the type of whistle used to hack the Bell Telephone system back in the 1970's. I don’t have the personal history of this particular whistle as it was given to me as a gift. But if you don’t know the history of these, you may want to check it out. STEVE JOBS of Apple fame used these in his early days. ( See below )
Just send me a CL email to set up time to pick up. I am in and out of the internet, so don't expect a quick response. Exact CASH only Please, NO ROLLED COIN. Attention…. I don't always check emails on Sundays OR when away from home.
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The cereal box whistle, it turned out, played at 2600 Hzs—the perfect tone to commandeer a phone line, allowing caller to enter an operator mode. If it weren’t for the Phone phreaks Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, we wouldn’t have Apple.
This is a two-tone Captain Crunch bosun whistle cereal premium. One side is red plastic and the other side is yellow. The red side has raised letters, CAP'N CRUNCH BO'SUN WHISTLE and an image of Sea Dog on the rounded front end. The yellow side has a raised image of the Captain himself. I believe these were included in some boxes of Captain Crunch cereal back in the 1960's or '70's, but I'm not sure of the exact date. The whistle does work, giving a good strong tone when blown. Hard to find in this two-tone color. Measures approximately 3 1/8" inches long x 1" inch wide. This is the type of whistle used to hack the Bell Telephone system back in the 1970's. A great vintage collectible! From Wikipedia: In early 1971, a former Air Force electronics technician named John Draper (later self-nicknamed Captain Crunch, Crunch, Crunchman, or Mr. Crunchtastic) was informed by his phone phreak friend Joe Engressia that a toy whistle that was, at the time, packaged in boxes of the cereal could be easily modified to emit a tone at precisely 2600 Hertz, the same frequency that was used by AT and T long lines to indicate that a trunk line was ready to route a new call. This would effectively disconnect one end of the trunk, allowing the still-connected side to enter an operator mode. This resulted in, among other things, the ability to place free phone calls to anywhere in the world and operator-like control over the phone system. Experimenting with this whistle inspired Draper to build blue boxes, electronic devices capable of reproducing this 2600 Hz tone and other tones required to control trunk lines. After being featured, under his pseudonym of Captain Crunch, in an article in the October 1971 issue of Esquire Magazine titled "Secrets of the Little Blue Box", he was sentenced in 1972 to five years’ probation for toll fraud.
Condition notes: Please see photos for condition. Overall in good, vintage condition with very little wear, as can be expected from an older plastic item.