An Atari question

[GirlGamer55]

So I know next to nothing about Atari's, having never touched one...but today my parents came home with an Atari 2600 in the box. I was excited to see it in action so I rushed up to my bedroom and started getting it set up, only to figure out I don't know how to hook it up.

Reading the manual (it actually came with all the paperwork!) I need a switch box which isn't in the box. I also need a very old tv because mine doesn't have the abillity to support such a thing.

My question is this, is there a way to get around using said switch box (since idk if the Atari even works) and is there a way to hook it up to a newer tv (it's about 15+ years old).

It did come with an odd small blue cylander battery looking thing with two wires sticking out of it that have metal prongs on the end of said wires, on the other side it has threading so it screws into something or something screws into it. It's labeled: Magnavox CATV systems inc, T-26

[Opa Opa]

Get one of these coax adapters:



and plug the console's RF cord into the female end of the adapter and screw the adapter into the cable plug of your television.

[flojocabron]

Yes, I agree as well.

I'm never willingly going back to those switch boxes.

Not that there's anything functionally wrong with them.

Older TVs needed them. Here's a pic of what they are.





You probably have that little adapter. Most everyone had them back in the day.

You can have them for nostalgia factor tho.

[Hobie-wan]

She has the other one that's the opposite of the top one. Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth before the 'cable' connection, you had screw terminals to attach the antenna to your TV. There were actually separate connections for VHF versus UHF and there was usually an alligator clip to switch when you were trying to watch channels 2-13 versus 14 and up. This would connect your TV to different parts of the antenna that were made to catch the higher or lower frequencies. If you had the switchbox shown there in Flojo's post, you'd screw the pigtails onto that top adapter, then attach that where your TVs cable input was.

But yeah, the little silver jobbie will take the place of that.

[GirlGamer55]

Get one of these coax adapters:



and plug the console's RF cord into the female end of the adapter and screw the adapter into the cable plug of your television.

On a random whim I told my parents about what was going on and dad (he has some technical knowhow and is the older of the two) happened to bring up a coax adapter.

He also said to see if it's working leave it on for a few minutes and see if it's warming up in any areas. He's not a video game person but they did have an Atari back in the day...is this something to check for to see if it's working?

Oh also...I don't know if I have a cable plug...I have the yellow and white av plugs...it's been a while since I looked at the back of that tv. So it should look like a metal one that has no colors?

[Anapan]

IIRC, you can't use an original Nintendo RF switch, so you'll need one of the adapters shown above.
Once you have that, you can buy a dedicated RF to composite converter box (to get the signal to RCA - Yellow, Red & White), tho you can also use a VCR to get the same results.

If you want a better picture than Coaxial, this guy sells a stereo audio & S-Video modding board.
http://electronicsentimentalities.com/A ... 0Mods.html

Congrats on the new 2600! I love mine.
There's some really great homebrew games for the system as well, considder buying a Harmony Cart.

[GirlGamer55]

IIRC, you can't use an original Nintendo RF switch, so you'll need one of the adapters shown above.
Once you have that, you can buy a dedicated RF to composite converter box (to get the signal to RCA - Yellow, Red & White), tho you can also use a VCR to get the same results.

If you want a better picture than Coaxial, this guy sells a stereo audio & S-Video modding board.
http://electronicsentimentalities.com/A ... 0Mods.html

Congrats on the new 2600! I love mine.
There's some really great homebrew games for the system as well, considder buying a Harmony Cart.

Ok so...this is getting technical...just to make sure I get it..

I need to plug the RF into the coaxial, then plug that into a composite converter box, then plug an RCA cable into that, that's also hooked into the TV on the other end of the cable. And that should work right?

[Anapan]

The signal coming from the Atari 2600 is RF (VHF on channel 3 or 4 on a TV) The connector for it is an RCA type. You need the adapter to plug the Atari into the coaxial (analog cable/antenna) screw on the back of your TV.
Using one of those Coaxial (F-Type) to Female RCA Adapters, your picture will be much improved from the one that would come from the switch box that came with the Atari originally.

That should be all you need.

*If* your TV/display doesn't have the coaxial cable input for some reason, you can use almost any VCR to convert the signal to composite (the yellow, white & red AV cables) and plug that into your TV.

Then that should be all you need.

For a bit higher quality, you can get a RF to composite video conversion box (since most VCRs throw away half of the vertical resolution)

If you want a higher quality signal still, you can mod the Atari 2600 to output S-video. It's a very crisp looking signal coming from that mod I linked earlier.

[KDub]

If your TV has a coaxial jack aka an antenna jack you just need that adapter. You plug your Atari into that and screw it into the TV and you'll be good. You can buy it from Atari Age as linked or just check Radio Shack, they usually have them and gold ones as well for a better signal. Don't ask anyone where they are, just look. I don't think I've found one/heard of one Shack that had an employee that knew they carried these things (or anything technical really). Part Number is 278-276
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... Id=2103471

If you don't have an antenna jack on your TV then yes you'll need an RF converter box too. Take the Atari VCS with that adapter and plug it into a converter box and that box will just reroute it to standard Composite (Yellow, Red, White). If you have an old VCR that might work as well! Some newer ones won't though as they don't usually have an RF converter inside them.

[Hobie-wan]

IIRC, you can't use an original Nintendo RF switch

Correct, it will look like you're trying to tune in some tv station 200 miles away with a coat hanger antenna. However it would be good enough to see that the system is working. Use one of your switch boxes as a female to female coupler.