GC42KXC Tikkie Box - Riverside (Traditional Cache) in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa created by nst1g8r

This cache has been archived.

Enigma_DKL: We decided to archive this one for the safety of our cachers.

Thanks to those who did find it

GC42KXC ▼

A cache by nst1g8r_mybrat Message this owner

Hidden : 12/9/2012

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

A quick road side cache.

Tikkie Box Series. It should be a quick park and grab, however there can be high muggles. Please bring your own pen. Please ensure cache sticks back in it's hidey location.

phone

A Tikkie Box or Call Box or Callbox is a (usually metal) box containing a special-purpose direct line telephone or other telecommunications device, which has been used by various industries and institutions as a way for employees or clients at a remote location to contact a central dispatch office.

Uses

Police and taxicab dispatching

Some taxi companies used callboxes before the introduction of two-way radio dispatching, as a way for drivers to report to the dispatch office and receive customer requests for service. Taxi callboxes would be located at taxi stands, where taxis would queue for trips.

Also before the introduction of two-way radios, some police agencies installed callboxes or "police boxes" at street locations as a way for beat officers to report to their dispatch office. Before the development of emergency telephone numbers and the proliferation of mobile phones, some firefighting agencies installed callboxes at various street locations, so that a pedestrian or driver spotting a fire could quickly report it.

Retail

A growing number of retailers use call boxes in their stores as a way for shoppers to summon service (Shopper Call Box) as well as for store employees to summon assistance (Director Call Box). Retail call boxes are generally wireless devices that communicate to in-store communication devices via radio frequency (303 MHz) or through 802.11 networks.

Call boxes also exist at regular intervals along the sides of many highways and rapid transit lines around the world, where drivers or passengers can use them to contact a control centre in case of an accident or other emergency. Such call boxes are often marked by a blue strobe light which flashes briefly every few seconds.[citation needed] Boxes in remote areas often now have solar cells to power them.

U.S. highways with callboxes include most of the major highways in California, Florida's Turnpike and Interstate 185 in Georgia. Rather than a telephone, these devices simply have four buttons to push: blue for accident or other emergency (send police/fire/medical), green for major service (mechanical breakdown, send a tow truck), black for minor service (out-of-gas or flat tire), and yellow for cancel. Roads in other places may have voice call boxes, though these are more expensive, and must either be wired long distances, or rely on spotty rural mobile phone service.

Many cellular callboxes in California now include a TTY interface for hearing impaired users.

Call boxes have the advantage that their location is immediately known, while mobile phone users in trouble do not necessarily know where they are. For example, in California a cellular call to 911 connects to CHP, whereas a callbox will connect to a dedicated regional answer center. The DTMF ANI or caller ID from the callbox will be used to display callbox sign number and location on the CAD system.

Emergency callboxes can also have a secondary function as an RTU. Experimental systems deployed around Sacramento, CA (Sutter County Smart Call Boxes) were used to connect fog sensors and CCTV using the cellular transceiver within the callbox.
Decline in usage

In California, freeway callboxes were used about 98,000 times in 2001. That number dropped by 80% to 20,100 times in 2010, or about 1 call per box per month. The cost of callboxes for the Service Authority for Freeways and Expressways (SAFE) program in the San Francisco Bay area is $1.7 million annually.[1]

Safety

On many North American college and university campuses today, callboxes are installed at various locations around campus so that students, staff, or visitors can contact campus security in case of an emergency. Often, these are voice call boxes using a mobile phone service, and solar-powered so no wiring need be extended to the middle of a parking lot or other remote location. Thus, they can function during a power outage if the cell site is still powered.
History

In the United States, the Gamewell Company of Newton, Massachusetts manufactured fire alarm call boxes beginning in the 1880s.[3] These would telegraph a location code to the central firestation when a lever was pulled in the box.[4]

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