[ih] Harasing whistlers (Was: [TUHS] UUCP mis-history?)

[Alex McKenzie]

I remember the story  from my days in charge of the ARPAnet Network Operation Center at BBN.  We had deduced that some of the TIP modem numbers we had were probably incorrect because some of them never answered, so we were listening to the calls made by the autodialer.  However, I was not the person on the phone, and I don't recall exactly what was said by the person who answered the phone.
Cheers,Alex


      From: Noel Chiappa <jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu>
 To: internet-history at postel.org; tuhs at tuhs.org 
Cc: jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu
 Sent: Thursday, March 9, 2017 10:06 AM
 Subject: Re: [ih] Harasing whistlers (Was: [TUHS] UUCP mis-history?)
   
    > From: "Steve Johnson"

    > This reminds me of a story from that era. One of the mainframe computers
    > had the ability to place phone calls and a program was run every night
    > to collect data from far-flung teletypes [which had been pre-loaded with
    > data tapes].  ...  On day the operators realized that there were two
    > phone numbers in Nebraska that were getting called every weekday night,
    > and the numbers were very similar.  They suspected one was a wrong
    > number, so they listened in on the calls to see which one was real.  The
    > phone rang in Nebraska at 2am and was answered by a sleepy man ..  The
    > man was heard to say "It's all right, Bertha.  It's just that nut with a
    > whistle again!"

Interesting: I've heard this same story, but told about TIPs and the ARPANET.
A computer at BBN was set up to regularly dial all the TIP modem lines, to
check that they were working. One line was always down, so they listened in,
and heard some human say "it's just that pevert with the whistle again".

I wonder which one was the original: anyone know for sure?

    Noel
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