I haven’t been here very long, but I get the impression that you guys know what you’re talking about so I propose the following situation to you:
This weekend my SO and I hit a few yardsales. We happened upon an Atari 2600 that was in great condition. Being the suckers for nostalga that we are, we had to buy it. Today was the first time I had a chance to hook it up. I can’t do it. I know everything is in the correct places, but all I’m getting is static. I know there has to be someone here who can help me. Let me know if you need more details about the TV or whatever.
Do you have an adapter where you need to choose the switch to be on channel 3 or 4? Make sure that and your TV is on the same channel. That’s the only thing I can think of off the top of my head.
Line out from ATARI goes into a little box. Box has sliding switch on it, one end is “TV” the other “Game”. Box has 2 wires coming out of it which are screwed into the antena leads on back of your TV. Newer TVs may not have these leads, you may need a converter to co-axal cable. Switch on back of ATARI labled 3-4. Put it on 3 for channel 3. Move slider swich on box to “Game”, turn on TV to chanel 3, put carterage in ATARI, turn ATARI on. Marvel at 8 bit graphics and have fun!
B: What do you get? Can you see the game screen but it’s obscured by static, or is it just static? How exactly does the hookup into the back of your TV go?
(Believe me, I’ve hooked a zillion of these things up)
Also–is there a difference on-screen between Atari on with cartridge inserted and Atari on with no cartridge?
And am I reading you right that in the hour between your last two posts you got ahold of the switcher box and coaxial adapter you were missing at first? If so, is there a difference when you switch from “GAME” to “TV”?
If you don’t have the box yet, it looks like this. You can get them at Radio Shack.
I really hope its not broken…The really nice guy from a really nice neighborhood said it worked. <shrug>
Weirddave all I get is static, nothing else.
The back of my TV has the screw-in cable hook up and the 2 antenna screws. Which is where I have Schadenfreude’s swicher box attached. There is no difference between game in and game out, all the same static.
It appears that I have had everything hooked up right from the beginning. Thanks for you help so far.
This is a long-shot, and very possibly just a wrong guess. BUT if your TV has the on-screen menus where you adjust brightness and all that kind of stuff, then there is probably also a setting for “Cable” or “Antenna” (or on mine, (“Air” or “Cable”). If your switcher is hooked into the antenna screws, you may need to change THAT setting.
I think you probably have it. If he has it attached to the antenna screws, has the TV on the correct channel, and has the RF switch on Game, then it should work. I have never heard of anyone needing an amplifier to do that, I had a friend who had an old-school Atari on a '90s television.
Do you have any antenna you can attach to the antenna screws to test them? If antenna don’t do anything either, then there’s something wrong with the input for them on your TV, and you will need to get one of the converters you use to connect an old antenna to a coax cable input.
I pulled my console collection out of the closet this weekend for my fiancee. I just put together a couple of atari systems for people who prefer the wood-grain consoles to emulators. You should not be having these difficulties connecting the RF cable to your modern TV if you have a game switch. Here is Atari’s original TV hookup guide. If you connect to the antenna screws, your TV should be set to receive from the antenna. If you connect to the coax, select line input. You may have to toggle between 2 and 3 on the atari console and 2,3, or 4 on your modern TV. If all else fails, there are dozens of Atari faqs out there.
Let us know if you get the thing hooked up. If the Atari’s case is still intact but the electronics are fried, you should hear no sound and see a monocolor screen. Those consoles are very tough. I’d be surprised if it was really broken.
Now you need an adapter so you can hook it up to the coax input. Then you should be fine.
I’m almost positive this is wrong. Line input on modern TVs would be looking for the signal coming from the RCA jacks. “Antenna” or “air” is what you should set the TV on.
