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Ghost Box Hack

Several weeks ago a new hack showed up on the internet which made it possible to take a $25 Radio Shack radio and modify it to work like a Franks Box. The main URL was www.ghostboxhacks.com. I am not exactly sure what happend to the information on that page and no further information was posted as to why it was removed, but for those who are looking for a cheap way to make a Franks Box clone, this is a simple hack that anyone can do within a few minutes.

Pick up a 12-469 radio from your local Radio Shack. These are normally hanging on the wall near the headphones. Its a basic white AM/FM radio with headphones. You will need a small phillips screw driver and a small pair of pliers for this hack.

Remove the screws from the back of the radio, there is 2 that are visible on the back and one in the battery compartment.



Carefully pry the back apart, there is a couple of snaps around the outer edge which should give way pretty easily, but do not pull to hard, there are wires connected to the back which might break from their solder points.

Remove the 2 screws from the inside PC Board.

Separate the top PC board from the bottom. Be gentel, you may need to pull the plastic top where the headphone plug in out just a bit.



On the board you just removed from the radio, you will see a row of pins which have small labels on them. Find the pin with the word "Mute" right under it. You can either bend this pin down and out of the way like I did, or just remove it all together.

Put the board back into the radio. This can be a little tricky, be sure the pins line up by looking between the boards. Once they are lined up carefull push them back together. Put the screws back into the board. Snap the back on and put the screws in. Now you are ready to run your Franks Box clone. Put in some fresh AAA batteries and fire it up. You have just removed the mute capability of the radio, what this does it make it continually scan through the radio stations without stopping and allow you to hear it while its scanning.