VIC-20 RF issues

[Nebulon]

You know the little metal RF box that's permanently attached to the VIC-20's video cable?

 

I think mine's kaput.

 

Of course, it could be something else too.

 

I've tried switching it to channel 3 and channel 4. Regardless, the display on the TV is garbled. However the audio comes through fine. Other machines and consoles work fine on that TV.

 

It used to work fine with the exact same computer, cable, and TV about a year ago.

 

Any ideas?

 

[carlsson]

Back in the days, I went through about three RF modulators for the VIC-20 in two years time. I'm not sure what goes wrong, but if you have a TV able to accept composite video, you should upgrade to a such cable and dump the RF modulator. You get a better picture and fewer electronic components to worry about.

[Nebulon]

Thanks. That's likely what I'll do.

 

I found an old topic on AtariAge. Looks like one person fixed it by replacing the caps in the RF unit:

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/160327-does-anyone-still-fix-vic-20s/