Talk:Play Date

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Revision as of 10:16, 9 June 2008 by Bobo the King (Talk | contribs)
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heh first!!@! btw, a dollop isnt only limited to 1 dairy company, it is a blob of steamed milk ~~--

Phone numbers (Since when does 8 mean hang up?)

Homestar's phone uses dual-tone multi-frequency dialing. In particular, take note of the section on the keypad. That's the conversion table between a pair of frequencies and the corresponding number. To find out what frequencies Homestar is dialing, I recorded the beginning of the cartoon in Audacity (but I'm sure any similar program will do). I then selected the sound only when Homestar was dialing a number. In Audacity, to view the spectrum, select View/Plot spectrum. Some of the numbers are short, so the sampling rate must be dropped from the default of 512. Audacity has a handy feature where it automatically tells you where the peaks are when you mouse over them. The spectrum is usually a bit noisy, but there are always two prominent peaks which can be looked up on the table in the Wikipedia link provided. I obtained the following results: Pom Pom's number:

  • 769 Hz + 1330 Hz
  • 701 + 1476
  • 702 + 1476

Hanging up on Pom Pom:

  • 849 + 1327

Calling Strong Bad:

  • 850 + 1328
  • 765 + 1463
  • 766 + 1327
  • 689 + 1462
  • 688 + 1462

Hanging up on Strong Bad/Dialing Bubs:

  • 849 + 1325

Hanging up on Bubs/Dialing Coach Z:

  • 850 + 1325

Hanging up on Coach Z:

  • 850 + 1328

Dialing the King of Town:

  • 764 + 1328
  • 687 + 1462

Hanging up on the King of Town:

  • 850 + 1327

These correspond to numbers 5-3-3, 8, 8-6-5-3-3, 8, 8, 8, 5-3-8 (as I report in the Fun Facts section)-- feel free to compare them yourself. The only significant quirk I found is that Homestar's phone emits a brief dual-tone of approximately 1200 Hz and 3600 Hz before each number. I don't know what this means, but it could either be unique to his phone or a signal to reset the tone detection (or something like that). I don't know if anyone wants to discuss anything except possibly where the fun-fact should go, but I thought this should serve as a record of my work.--Bobo the King 10:16, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

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