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I believe the most common way that most techs will install UAVs into the 6 switch consoles, is using the 4050 piggy back method that is similar to that of the 5200. This method does work of course for most, but there are a few reason why you might not want to go with this installation method. - The 4050 is critical in the operations of the 6 switch console as it not only has buffering for the video signals, but also is part of the main logic behind the fire button / trigger controls on these older models. - There are instances of the 4050 +5 voltages to the chip not being consistent and even being too low to power the UAV properly while working fine in the console otherwise. - Requires some tight solder work to attach the socket on top of the 4050 which again, is a critical IC in the system and 40+ years old in most of these consoles. - The 4050 is quite susceptible to ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) damage. So not using proper equipment rated to be ESD safe and setup properly can damage the 4050 when touching and soldering to it directly. Although the 4050 is a cheap IC part and still made new today in this form factor, I find it best to stay clear of the IC and I get much better and more consistent results when I point to point solder wire from other locations back to the UAV. As such, this guide can be looked at as an alternate installation method and not the only way to do it. But this is the method I've been using for several years now to install UAVs into 6 switch Atari consoles. UAV (Ultimate Atari Video) Layout:- The UAV has basically remained the same on its design and layout since around 2017 when the current revision D was released. I only use the basic UAV board in all of my installs as I find that easier to wire to and provides me more flexibility overall. Below is a diagram showing you the spots on the UAV you need to be concerned with on NTSC 2600 Installations. In all installs, the UAV will need to have power, ground, color signal, and a few other video signals provided to it for it to function properly. These signals come from the TIA chip. Take NOTE that you attach the signal wires for S, 1, 2, & 3 along the center and smaller vias on the UAV. If you have a pre-built UAV with a header block soldered here, just solder wiring to the tops of the header pins to make it easier. Different revisions:- The 6-switch NTSC consoles come in only two main versions. What we call the Heavy sixer and the light sixer variant. Most of the differences between the two models are on the separate attached switch boards and not on the main board containing the core logic of the game system. As a result, the method shown for UAV wiring is the same between both models of the 6-switch NTSC consoles. Power, Ground and Color resistor:- The UAV requires power and ground to operate . The 6-switch models also have an 800Ωish resistor located at R213 just about below center of the TIA chip. The picture below shows good points to get +5v (R207)and ground (C204 or C203) connections from. Additionally, the color resistor that is in place, must be disabled from circuit as it will cause hue/tint issues on the UAV that cannot be adjusted out using the color trimmer wheel. I usually de-solder the leg and use shrink tubing around it to isolate it, while keeping in place in case the resistor should ever be put back into service for some reason. You can also just clip the leg with side flush cutters as well. NTSC TIA signal component locations for UAV:- The signals needed from the TIA can be gotten from points directly off empty vias on the main board or from a nearby component leg. Again, these are alternate locations that I use for UAV installs as there is plenty of room to solder everything to and it keeps the wiring from the UAV to the main board pretty short. The signal points on the UAV for S, 1, 2, 3, Co In, & Audio are shown below. You might have to carefully bend the resistors to the side a little bit to allow for more room to access these spare vias. Audio Connection:- As shown in the previous picture, there is an unused via next to capacitor C210. This via is connected directly to pins 12 and 13 off the TIA and is where I tap the signal needed for the audio output. However, as this is the raw signal from the TIA it is a bit too strong and I advise adding in an additional 10µf capacitor and resistor inline to help bring the level down a bit. The level of resistance it up to you and isn't required but I wouldn't go above 10k as that is likely to be too low for use and again you might be fine with how it sounds without one at all. Also be advised that this point has both pins 12 and 13 already combined so it will only provide a mono output from both channels of the TIA audio. UAV output wiring:- The output side of the UAV is along the same point that you attached the TIA color signal wire to. All of your output signal jacks will require a connection for the signal output and also ground. What I usually do in my installs is to run a shared ground wire for both audio and composite video from the ground pin near the composite output on the UAV. I then run another second shared ground for the chroma and luma outputs for s-video using the ground pin between Co In and chroma out on the UAV outputs. The diagram below shows the S-video connections on the female s-video as viewed from the front of the s-video jack. What about that blue box thing on the UAV, what is that for? :- The blue box near the output side on the UAV is a trimmer adjustment for changing the way color artifacting looks through composite output. However, this trimmer has no impact when used on the 2600 console as it was mainly put into place for using the UAV on the Atari 8-bit computers where more games used NTSC artifacting. And that pretty much sums it up. The work required to install the UAV into a 6-switch 2600 in this manner might seem like more work, but I think the consistent results and less risk to the TIA and 4050 IC are worth it in these particular installs. And in the case of the NTSC 6-switch consoles, the empty spot on the main board above the TIA is a great place to attach the UAV and have everything needed right there close by. Here is an example of one I've done using the information I've posted above to give you an idea.

As there can be some confusion on how to install the UAV into a 4-switch NTSC 2600 console due to the variants that exist, I thought I would try and collate all of the basic information needed for installing the UAV into these model 2600s. While the different revisions do have some slight changes between them, in all cases the area where to get the signals needed for the UAV to work are located in the same basic locations. This is is not a comprehensive guide but more of a quick reference for those that already know how to open up the 2600 and are semi familiar with the layout inside of the 4-switch NTSC consoles. UAV (Ultimate Atari Video) Layout:- The UAV has basically remained the same on its design and layout since around 2017 when the current revision D was released. I only use the basic UAV board in all of my installs as I find that easier to wire to and provides me in more flexibility overall. Below is a diagram showing you the spots on the UAV you need to be concerned with on NTSC 2600 Installations. In all installs, the UAV will need to have power, ground, color signal, and a few other video signals provided to it for it to function properly. Take NOTE that you attach the signal wires for S, 1, 2, & 3 along the center and smaller vias on the UAV. If you have a pre-built UAV with a header block soldered here, just solder wiring to the tops of the header pins to make it easier. Different revisions:- The 4-switch NTSC consoles come in revisions starting with rev12 and ending up with rev17 that I've seen personally. Meaning there are variants in between but the good news is that there are really only about 3 different layouts for the components between all of these revisions in the area that we are concerned with for the UAV. Look around the top of the main board to see which Revision of the board you have so that you know which of the sections below to refer to for your UAV install. Power, Ground and Audio:- All revisions of the 4-switch NTSC consoles share the same points for power, ground, and audio that can be used for UAV installations. While the top board trace layouts look different in the areas below and the location of the RF output RCA jack is in different spots, the actual points are the same and in the same locations. I've provided pictures that show how this area is on the Rev 12 - 14 and Rev 16 & 17 models below. Revision 12 & 13 NTSC TIA signal locations for UAV:- The revision 12 and 13 NTSC consoles is pretty straightforward as the signals are all in a line from the main resistor section just to the right of the TIA chip. The signal points on the UAV for S, 1, 2, 3, & Co In are shown below. Revision 14 NTSC TIA signal locations for UAV:- The revision 14 NTSC console layout is similar to the earlier revisions with the only change being where you grab the signal for connection 2 to the UAV. The signal points on the UAV for S, 1, 2, 3, and Co In are shown below. Revision 16 - 17 NTSC TIA signal locations for UAV:- The revision 16 & 17 NTSC consoles have their signals in the same location as the Rev14 show above, with the one change being an extra 820Ω resistor that was added to the board layout that has to be disconnected from the circuit. This resistor is located directly right of the TIA and is marked as R234, although you cannot see the silkscreen indicating this until you lift the resistor out of place. If you do not disable this resistor, you will end up with incorrect color hues on all colors from the UAV that cannot be adjusted out with the color trimmer. You can either clip the leg of the resistor, de-solder it, or remove the resistor completely. The signal points on the UAV for S, 1, 2, 3, and Co In are shown in the picture below. The picture shows an alternate location for the S signal, but you can also get it from the same location as the Rev 14 in most cases. UAV output colors appear horribly off kilter? As mentioned in the Rev 16 & 17 section, there is an extra resistor on the main board that has to be disabled. While this resistor doesn't have a dedicated location on the earlier revision 4-switch NTSC consoles, it was sometimes added from the factory and therefore bodged into place. Look the presence of this resistor either on the bottom of the main board attached to pins 6 and 9 of the TIA chip, or possibly soldered on the top component side next to the TIA socket. In these cases, it is easiest to just clip the resistor on one leg to disable it without fully removing it. You might want to add shrink tubing or some other way to insulate the lifted/cut leg of the resistor so it can't short against anything. UAV output wiring:- The output side of the UAV is along the same point that you attached the TIA color signal wire to. All of your output signal jacks will require a connection for the signal output and also ground. What I usually do in my installs is to run a shared ground wire for both audio and composite video from the ground pin near the composite output on the UAV. I then run another second shared ground for the chroma and luma outputs for s-video using the ground pin between Co In and chroma out on the UAV outputs. The diagram below shows the S-video connections on the female s-video as viewed from the front of the s-video jack. What about that blue box thing on the UAV, what is that for? :- The blue box near the output side on the UAV is a trimmer adjustment for changing the way color artifacting looks through composite output. However, this trimmer has no impact when used on the 2600 console as it was mainly put into place for using the UAV on the Atari 8-bit computers where more games used NTSC artifacting.

Though I've posted about my channel and videos before, I figured keeping a central place in one thread would make more since. While I have done more videos than I will likely ever post in here, I thought it would be good to start off with my 40th official video for my channel and to start off April right. I present my unboxing and game play review for the Neo Games home-brew release of the limited boxed edition of Spies in the Night for the Atari 2600! Enjoy and thank you for watching!

So these arrived in the mail yesterday and so I was super stoked to build one up and try installing it onto my test bed stock 7800 I use in the lab. If you saw my earlier blog post, you might have already figured it out, but yes... I designed some mount PCBs for slight ease on installing UAVs into 7800s. These mount boards have the chroma fix already on them in addition to the extra resistors and cap for audio mixing to external RCA jacks etc. However, this is a dual mono audio solution and not stereo... just something to keep in mind. Not sure I will make these available to the public yet as the time to hand assemble and test them isn't something I can do large scale. But for my client installs going forward, this is likely how my UAV installs will pretty much look like. This first board I put together is using single pin sockets so I could easily pop the UAV on/off the board as needed for testing etc. Actual installs will have the UAV soldered permanently onto the mount board and as a result the UAV will sit lower onto the mount board than you see here. The mount board is designed with board headers so that you solder it down near the resistor legs that the video signals are tapped from. I also have vias for power and ground that line up with the GND and +5 from the RF modulator pins. In this example install, I use a 90 right angle pin header that solders to the top of the pin headers from the RF modulator board and then can be soldered through the vias. But this isn't required as you could just solder wires to these vias instead if you wanted. Additionally, once the UAV is attached, you could also just run +5 and GND to the UAV pads and it would feed everything as well. I also have included 2 more board headers that allow me to solder to the R5 and R6 resistors to get the audio signals we need for the POKEY and TIA. These are then mixed on the mount board and an audio out pad provided to simplify the audio portion of installs. Here is the example setup I did last night. Again I used single pin sockets on this so I could remove the UAV easily but actual installs would have the UAV soldered onto header pins directly. As a result, the actual combo won't sit this tall on actual installs as the UAV will only at half the height you see here. Here are two more boards I soldered up ready to go. These are using the through hole pin headers. To align these, I actually set them into place and then set a UAV on top. So actual assembly is basically to solder on the SMD components first, then set the header pins for the UAV into place, place the UAV onto the pins to align everything up, flip the board over and solder the header pins for the UAV on the bottom of the PCB. Then I solder in the larger and thicker header pins for the mount boards resistor leg mounting. I then line it up and solder the mount board into place. I'm then able to do some initial testing without the UAV by power on the console to make sure I have power and ground connections where needed. I can also verify that some of the video signals (Especially chroma) are coming through using my o'scope. Everything else just needs continuity tested to be sure I have connections. I can then place the UAV onto the pins and power on again without soldering it to initially test that the UAV is working. Granted it is just sitting on the header pins at this point, but they make a good enough connection for these initial tests. Once confirmed everything is a go, I can then solder the UAV permanently into place and run my output wires where needed. Because of the orientation of the UAV (It was really the only way to keep it all self contained in this one spot), it does require running your AV out wires ahead of time or header pins etc.. as you won't be able to solder it into place very easily once the UAV is in place given how close the video outputs will be to the RF modulator's interconnect board.

Here is an issue that I've seen before in one form or another and I thought I would talk about it here while working on a earlier era 2600 heavy sixer last night. The system was sent in for refurbishment. In this case that is all the original electrolytic capacitors being replaced out, new DC power jack, new voltage regulator etc. But a problem was reported and confirmed during testing of the console. What was the issue? In this case it was an issue with the player 2 controls. Specifically, player 2's fire button was always registering as being pressed. Easiest game to demonstrate this was Air-Sea Battle as when you reset the game to start, player 2 is constantly shooting the entire time even without a controller plugged in. Part of the refurbishment process is changing some components near the joystick port per an Atari service bulletin from back in the day for ESD protection. It is the last part in regards to the ESD protection that needs focus, because it was found that static electricity from players hands when inserting and unplugging the joysticks, would cause static discharge to the joystick pins. Luckily for most this is pretty harmless but one component in particular on the heavy sixers is very sensitive to this and prompted Atari to create the service bulletin to address it. The specific component to be checked is labeled as A203 on the main board. While the original IC chip has an Atari PN labeled on it, the chip is a bog standard 4050 IC that was common on the 8-bit line, 5200, some 2600s and lots of other devices. So common in fact, that the 4050s are still made today. However, on the heavy sixers, the trigger lines (Fire button) goes through the 4050 chip and in turn relayed back to the TIA. The most basic way it works is that +5v is always present on pin 6 of the joystick port which is the trigger line for each controller. When you press the fire button, you ground this connection causing the +5 to drop to near 0. This is what is referred to as going from Hi to Lo and is how the system knows when controller inputs are being used. In the case of this 2600, pin 6 from joystick port 2 was not showing any voltage from it and as a result, this was being interpreted by the logic in the system as if the fire button was already being pressed down. The basic troubleshoot process here is to verify the traces from pin 6 back to pin 7 on the 4050 IC chip and ensure there are no broken traces. If that checks out, then the culprit is down to two component at that point being The 4050 IC or the TIA itself. Anyway, per the service manual flow charts and because I found no issues with the traces on the board, I removed the original 4050 IC chip, installed a socket and new 4050. Let it burn in test for several hours last night and verified that player 2 is now behaving properly and not so short tempered. So in this case it was an easy fix but also a warning on why ESD was and still is an issue to this day. In this case, an errant spark from someones hand in the past damaged something internally in the 4050 IC causing it to no longer function properly in regards to the player 2 fire button. Here is the replaced 4050 and socket. Although this 4050 in the pic did have to swapped out with a new Ti branded one as this one would cause graphical issues once the system was warmed up. Here is the soldering on the bottom where the socket was installed. Finally here is one of the capacitor/diode combos that the service bulletin has you install to help with ESD from the controller ports. This is the one installed at C237 for port 2. There is another combo like this installed at C236 for port 1 on the opposite side of the board. View the full article

Did a really quick little project last night. I'd been kicking this around in my head but decided to try it finally last night. The M.O.D.E. or Multi-Optical-Disc-Emulator from TerraOnion has a nifty set of additional pins along one side of it for adding in additional features. Among them are the ability to add in a wire for adding a physical reset button or button to simulate a Disc Swap process etc. One of the extra pins is for wiring in an additional LED in the system somewhere that is directly tied to the small SMD access LED on the M.O.D.E.'s PCB itself. Because this LED isn't usually visible with all inside the case of the console it makes sense that they would provide such a pin. I'm sure it was intended for an additional LED but I decided to instead change the actual power on LED on my Dreamcast to act as the access LED. This way, it still serves as a power on indicator when you see it blinking with 'disc' access activity taking place. The way I did this wasn't difficult at all. I simply removed the power LED from the controller board. Reformed the + lead on the LED to be 90 degrees pointing toward the back of the DC when reinstalled. From that reformed lead, I soldered on about a foot of wire to it. That wire in turn would connect to the LED pin on the M.O.D.E.. I then soldered the power LED back in place on the controller board only soldering in the - or ground lead in place. This way, when the system is powered on and in use, the + voltage to feed the LED and light it up will come from the M.O.D.E. during disc access activity indications. Again this isn't difficult at all and I did add shrink tubing off my + lead and soldered wire to ensure no shorts would occur around the controller board. But here is an edited video example I took off my phone showing how it looks.

Got another unique cartridge in the mail over the weekend. Below I present you the entire Future 2612 album created by Th4 D34D and published by Chip Beats! Additional information is found in the video description.

Received my deluxe version of L'Abbaye des Morts for the Sega Genesis and Mega Drive last week and was playing it a ton this weekend! It is a very challenging platformer requiring quick reflexes and timing. Enjoy!

Been doing a few composite AV mods on client intellivisions. Though I would video the process I go through for doing a capacitor replacement. I'm working on trying to get the videos down to be more watchable in smaller amounts of time but perhaps too much compression on time is used in this video? Big special thanks to Adan Toledo for his permission to feature some of his music from the CollectorVision homebrew release of Sydney Hunter & the Sacred Tribe for the Intellivision! - Order your official OSTs for Sydney Hunter and Mecha 8 from Adan himself here: http://adan.eu5.net/europe.html - Order your copy of Sydney Hunter & the Sacred Tribe plus other homebrews from CollectorVision here: http://collectorvision.com/ Comments always welcome and much appreciated!