This was a game-changer!

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thonnard42@reddit

My favorite thing from RadioShack in the 80s was the pocket dialer. You could program number tones into it and play them into a pay phone mic to dial at the push of 1 button. Someone figured out that the pay phones emitted an audible tone whe. coins were dropped in, and found the hack to make pocket dialer emit those tones. It was called Red Box phreaking.

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BusterBus75@reddit

Man, I ain't thought about that in years.

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naruzopsycho@reddit

...and in later days, Hallmark was pleasantly surprised by the popularity of their "record your own greeting" cards...

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Ok-Toe3535@reddit

Omg I forgot about those 😂

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itscuriousyah@reddit

And thus 2600. Dang. Old school, baby.

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alwayzz0ff@reddit

This stopped us from prank calling, kinda

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Everything80sFan@reddit

This and *69

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MassCasualty@reddit

Make sure you *67

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alwayzz0ff@reddit

:-) this guy knows

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MassCasualty@reddit

We had a bearcat 350a scanner that could intercept our 900mhz cordless phone. We hooked the scanner output up to the tape deck input to record our prank calls. Highly illegal in our 2 party consent state. I hope the juvenile statute has expired. I fear my parents threw out the tapes ages ago, but anytime I find old cassette tapes I het hopeful.

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alwayzz0ff@reddit

We did the same thing except my buddy somehow had it rigged up so we could tape straight to a cassette. lol like you I like to think those tapes are probably floating around somewhere.

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MassCasualty@reddit

No way to play them!!

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plathrop01@reddit

My parents wouldn't get caller ID because there was an extra $3 or $5 charge per month to get it. Of course, they also were about the last to switch over from pulse to tone dialing because there was also a charge to get tone dialing. Finally both of those services were just included in the monthly line cost.

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AndyCouch@reddit

Eventually, it became an extra cost to keep pulse dialing as a way to encourage folks to switch. That's what it took for my grandparents to finally break down and buy a new phone.

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GenX-ModTeam@reddit

Low Effort - Posts or comments that hold no value to the sub may be removed. This includes but isn't limited to: * First/Last <whatever> * Pictures, comics, or memes with no context (Yes, you need to put forth some effort.) * One word comments (ex: This!) *A headline with no further context for a photo or meme. NOTE: The headline is not context. Make the effort to write something. If your post is removed under this rule, you are free to add context and repost, but do not repost it without changes.

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Academic-Bar5300@reddit

Aka the death of prank calling.

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jason_55904@reddit

I got in trouble when as soon as got one. I was supposed to go to a friend's house and call when I got there. We went somewhere else and I called and said we made it. Caller ID told on me. My parents were not happy and I ended up not sleeping at my friend's.

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ProfessionalLime2237@reddit

Haha, i still have one of those.

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MikeyRidesABikey@reddit

The Caller ID or the absinthe spoon? /g

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BrilliantHyena@reddit

Before that we had to *69

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ComprehensiveSwim709@reddit

I was so happy when these came out. The extra $5 was worth it. I haven't answered an unknown number ever since. When I was a teenager someone kept calling my parents house and harassing me. Asking all kinds of lewd questions. Then one day he called when I wasn't home and asked my mom if she knew where I was and described what I was wearing that day. I was safely at school but my folks got an air horn after that. It only took a couple of blasts for him to stop calling. I hope the bastard is still deaf in one ear.

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Fresh_Lavishness_147@reddit

I miss Radio Shack! There’s still a vacant Radio Shack bldg in Down town Farmington.

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iOSmkim@reddit

I miss those things. 🐶

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No_Maintenance_9608@reddit

I always remember one of the earliest commercials for caller ID where the obscene caller at the end realized he could no longer get away with it.

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SnooRevelations2717@reddit

No more crank calling your friends after this.

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Scouter197@reddit

The best was when you picked up and said "Hi <Friend's Name>" and they were confused AF.

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Blue_Henri@reddit

My Uniden white phone with the huge antenna!!!🤩 I couldn’t wait to get it. Best house phone I’ve ever owned. Caller ID on the back changed the world for me.

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AudereEstLamela@reddit

Totally fucked my crank calling hijinks

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human8060@reddit

*67 to block numbers. We learned that quick lol

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jakexcited45@reddit

When this person got home from school, he was clearly greeted by a parent.

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Kooky_Introduction28@reddit

I was such a boss when we got one, and I would answer the phone, "Hi, Matt." I KNEW WHO WAS CALLING! If I remember correctly, there was a small extra charge from the phone company for the service. Maybe $5?

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Cross58Crash@reddit

What was the game - dodging creditors?

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SaintWillyMusic@reddit (OP)

if you can dodge a wrench you can dodge a creditor

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AffectionateFox8001@reddit

![gif](giphy|mmQ2BQUdlFoSA)

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kanakamaoli@reddit

But my parents refused to pay the dollar to have the phone company enable caller id on our line.

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pm_me_bra_pix@reddit

Dad was the same way with touch tone. So even though we had a phone with buttons we still had to listen to the pulses as the phone dialed. *cries in old and poor *

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Ok-Offer-541@reddit

Right?! My mom refused to pay for call waiting. She would say “we already have it…they call…it’s busy…they wait”. Made me crazy back then but now it serves as a great (funny) core memory. 🥹❤️

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evilJaze@reddit

Call waiting was annoying though if you were online a lot. It used to drop the modem signal on me all the time when someone called.

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phillymjs@reddit

You had to have the modem dial \*70 before the actual number to disable call waiting for that call. Remember that in case you ever get into a Hot Tub Time Machine type situation.

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cjl99@reddit

Same here it was treated like a ridiculous splurge or something.

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CA1900@reddit

I feel that. We also had to pay extra for touch-tone service, and it was a struggle to get my parents to pony up for that one!

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SaintWillyMusic@reddit (OP)

lol

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hundredgrandpappy@reddit

End of my Jerky Boys phase, you know damn right.

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MassCasualty@reddit

Make sure you *67 so they can't *69 you

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WhyBlue6@reddit

I will bring my shoes and glasses. So I will have them.

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Redebo@reddit

Oh Sal.

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fishegg808@reddit

I sold a ton of those gizmos. Pretty sure mine is in a box in the attic.

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rangeo@reddit

https://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/flipbook/1995_radioshack_catalog.html#google_vignette 43-957 closest I could find I miss working at the Shack

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vantuckymyfoot@reddit

I was in it for the Free Battery of the Month Club. Not gonna lie, that was a great way to get people into the store. I loved it when Radio Shack was typically staffed by über-nerd types, the ones who knew by heart what the colored codes on resistors stood for. Any one of those dudes could build a Ham radio from scratch from parts off the shelf, then make a solar powered calculator for fun. When it became a place to sell cell phones, I knew the end was near. When I, not a techie by a long shot, knew more about the components I was looking for than the drone behind the counter, that was about it for me.

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SaintWillyMusic@reddit (OP)

I still have my battery club card from about '79

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Sand_Aggravating@reddit

You were that fuckn fat kid that bragged about his fuckn fat dad making 40k!!! Fuck you!

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Sand_Aggravating@reddit

You were a rich kid! Don't talk to us!!!

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CompetitiveFootball6@reddit

Wish I’d discovered Underberg back then too

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SaintWillyMusic@reddit (OP)

I've redeemed many caps over the last 25 years...

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CompetitiveFootball6@reddit

As have I! If only I’d started earlier I’d be staring fondly at my Giant Herb Mobile XXL while wearing my Underberg bandolier

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Quercus408@reddit

Wow, I feel like Rose seeing her saucy portraits for the first time in 84 years.

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jillsmo@reddit

Oh holy shit. I think I actually still have two or three of these. I can't ever let them go.

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VelvetElvis@reddit

From the thumbnail, I thought this was a digital thermostat. They are as big a deal as pagers.

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NoPanda5634@reddit

Indeed it was.

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Lateone@reddit

Lots of wires, back in the day, with much tangling.

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Shiftymennoknight@reddit

the holy grail

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Haunting-Prior-NaN@reddit

The end of the anonymous telephone prank era.

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CollectsTooMuch@reddit

I worked at radio shack after high school while in college and I sold thousands of these.

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geraldine_ferrari@reddit

*66! The busy-signal fix!

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shoghon@reddit

Wow. We had that exact model. That is a flashback.

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Weird-Girl-675@reddit

Same! My mom’s younger sister liked to call and just sit there breathing. Once we got this we knew it was definitely here and told her off. Imagine a 30 something year old woman with nothing better to do…

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zandarthebarbarian@reddit

No more annoying calls from grandma, lol. Later on,' Why weren't you home? Where were you?'

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hankenator1@reddit

Ruined prank calls forever along with its partner I’m crime *69

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Dramatic_Channel52@reddit

Couldn’t you block this ?

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hankenator1@reddit

*67 would block your caller id from showing up but *69 calls back the last number that called you so it still killed the prank calls.

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SaintWillyMusic@reddit (OP)

If they blocked you knew it was a junk call or someone you didn't want to talk to...

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mndsm79@reddit

*67 iirc

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umeboshiplumpaste@reddit

I miss the days when this was exciting and so novel. And the days when you'd come home and see a little light flashing on your answering machine, and you'd pull the lever to play the cassette desperately hoping that it was someone's voice you wanted to hear. I am so grateful to have lived through it all. We were spoiled with a life of anticipation and patience.

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