Help! Poor RF output.

[Lastcallhall]

Hi all, this is my first Atari system, so please be kind. Long story short, I picked up a 7800 recently, but I've yet to test it out, namely due to time. Well, I had a moment tonight and so I hooked it up via RF to my 50" RPTV (non HD), and this is the image I got:

 

 

Now, this unit didn't come with it's own RF switch, so I'm using one from a Genesis. When used on the Genesis, the RF box works fine. Also, the joystick doesn't move when I plug it in. A Genesis controller works fine, though.

 

I took apart the system and this baby is CLEAN inside. No dust, no scuffs, no leaky caps, nothing.

 

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

[+Mitch]

Unfortunately, the earlier Atari systems do not work properly with the auto switch-boxes that shipped with pretty much all systems after the NES. You need either a manual switch-box or an RCA to f-jack adapter. http://www.atariage.com/howto/connect.html

 

Mitch

[Lastcallhall]

Hmm... I wonder if it's cheaper to just mod it for composite and or s-video. Thanks for the info!

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

Mitch is correct. The later switch boxes that feature the "auto-switching" require more power to switch over. If you have a manual switch box from an older system use that or even better as Mitch mentioned use an adapter.

[gorfcadet]

The adapter is cheaper. A mod job will likely look very pretty though. Still just to get up and running, pick up the adapter the other guys mentioned. If you need to use the coax in for something else as well, you can run it through an old vcr to save the coax jack on your tv for your cable input or whatever.

[Lastcallhall]

Cool... Yeah, I was looking over the s-video mod on the saundby website, and it seems easy enough, but I don't have some of the parts on hand that'll take a few days to get from Digikey, so I'll just shoot over to RS and pick up the jack after work. I have a RF signal splitter/amplifier lying around somewhere; could I use that to feed the Atari into the unit on one prong of the splitter and the other RF devices I have hooked up on another? If not it's no big deal - I mainly keep the RFs around for troubleshooting video issues when modding systems, so it's not as if they're in constant use. Thanks, everyone!

[+sgrddy]

Unfortunately, the earlier Atari systems do not work properly with the auto switch-boxes that shipped with pretty much all systems after the NES. You need either a manual switch-box or an RCA to f-jack adapter. http://www.atariage.com/howto/connect.html

 

Mitch

 

I use my Jaguar autoswitch box with my 7800 and it works fine. I do use that F-adapter thing for my 5200 - it came with the system from the guy I bought it from. The picture is excellent with that, but when I tried it with the 7800, it didn't work at all. I'll have to try it again.

 

Update: I bought one of those RCA to Coaxial F adapter things at Radio Shack. The output is much cleaner than the RF unit from the Jag with the 7800. It still isn't as sharp as composite from my XEGS on the same TV, but it is a huge improvement. I don't know why it didn't work before.