2600 RF plug to TV's game input?

[azure]

My CRT TV has a coax and RCA RF game inputs. It'd be nice to plug the Atari's RF plug right into the game plug since they're both RCA, but it doesn't work. Does anyone know the technical reason why this doesn't work?

[carlsson]

The RCA game input on your TV most likely requires a composite video signal. You can modify or ask someone to modify your 2600 to make it output composite video (or better), then you can connect it to the RCA input for improved picture quality.

 

Unfortunately most older systems carried their RF signal through a RCA output which confuses people. It should be noted that one kind of connector can have multiple uses, like this RCA connector that can be used for composite video, left or right audio, one third of a component video signal, intermediate RF signal and tons of additional uses.

[RamrodHare]

My CRT TV has a coax and RCA RF game inputs. It'd be nice to plug the Atari's RF plug right into the game plug since they're both RCA, but it doesn't work. Does anyone know the technical reason why this doesn't work?

As Carlsson said, the RCA connections on your TV are not RF. They are composite. The coax connection is the only RF connection.

The easiest way to connect your Atari, is with a RCA to Coax barrel adapter. They are cheap and can easily be found online or possibly at a local electronics store. The other option is to AV mod the Atari. There are different ways to do it, but all require soldering. It's also important to note that some consoles can get decent results with the cheap AV mods, while others require better and more costly mods. The best mod, as far as price and quality is the UAV.

[H454]

If it is just ONE RCA jack and its an old tv(like 90 or older), It might be RF.

I have a couple of antenna switches with a "game" RCA Port.

 

How bout some pics?

Edited January 6, 2018 by H454

[azure]

I didn't realize the television's RCA port was composite. I don't have a plan to mod the 2600 (yet). If I modded it, I'd prefer to support both RF and composite if possible. Otherwise, I will probably leave it as it is. I have the barrel adapter coming in the mail. I'm not that choosy about video quality. I'd rather run on a CRT anyway. The switchbox I have is ancient and awful, and it's causing static in the video.

 

For the TV, it's a 20" Samsung TXN2020 I got for $15. Photos: https://imgur.com/a/Cofty

[RamrodHare]

If it is just ONE RCA jack and its an old tv(like 90 or older), It might be RF.

I have a couple of antenna switches with a "game" RCA Port.

 

How bout some pics?

I'm not gonna say there's no tv like that, but it's extremely unlikely. I did about 20 minutes just to be sure and found no results on any tv ever having an RCA input that was RF. As far as the antenna switch boxes, yes, there is a "Game" RCA, but it's the input, not the output. All the examples of older antenna switch boxes I found had an RCA input, labeled "game", usually with an arrow pointing in, to signify that it's the signal going into the box, not coming out.

 

"IF" by some chance the OP has a TV with a single RF RCA input, I too would love to see a picture of it.

[RamrodHare]

I didn't realize the television's RCA port was composite. I don't have a plan to mod the 2600 (yet). If I modded it, I'd prefer to support both RF and composite if possible. Otherwise, I will probably leave it as it is. I have the barrel adapter coming in the mail. I'm not that choosy about video quality. I'd rather run on a CRT anyway. The switchbox I have is ancient and awful, and it's causing static in the video.

 

For the TV, it's a 20" Samsung TXN2020 I got for $15. Photos: https://imgur.com/a/Cofty

Thanks for the photo. The yellow RCA jack is is always composite video. The white and red colored jacks are for audio, one is left the other is right, if it has stereo sound. A white jack only, means it's mono.

 

When it comes to modding, it's not something that's necessary. The barrel adapter will help clear the picture up. If you want to go a step further, get a clamp on ferrite core and clamp it on the RF cable a few inches from the console. The ferrite will filter out interference and clean the picture up even more. They are fairly cheap and in some cases make quite a bit of difference.