atari 2600 hooking up problems

[atari70s]

i need help i cant get my 2600 working on my 19 inch color tv. before i get laughed at this is my current set up

 

 

 

magnavox 19 inch tv with a coax reciever.

 

 

 

( i got a 3 way coax spliter mind u )

 

i have a 5 way switch box that runs xbox , 360, ps2,snes, and atari 8 bit to my tv. ( that works on channel 4).

 

i have my IO cable line running into the same spliter ( that works on channel 3)

 

so when i hooked up the 2600 i knew a.) my atari wouldnt support RCA cables. and b.) id have to do things the old fashion way.

 

well i pluged the wire from the system into the RF box ( making sure the box was on game and not TV) then ran a coax wire to the 3rd port of my 3 way coax spliter. ( i assumed this would either run on channel 3/4. )

 

but alas everythign works but this 2600 unit. what do i do ( besides not having so much stuff runnign to the tv at once. )

 

how do i do this with the 3 way spliter. is there something i am missing

[atari70s]

using a 3 way splitter does that mean there are 3 channels being used 3, 4 and one more?

[D.Yancey]

See if you can get the 2600 to run on a port from the splitter that you know is working and you know the channel it is working on. Make sure the 2600 channel select switch is set to the same channel (some have a choice of 2 or 3 & some have a choice of 3 or 4). Also does the 2600 work if hooked up directly to the TV? You have to eliminate possible causes one at a time until you find the cause.

 

Make sure all those other game units are off so they cannot interfere with the Atari signal.

Edited July 3, 2006 by D.Yancey

[A.J. Franzman]

I suspect you're doing something wrong involving that 3-way splitter. What is it in there for?

 

Can you post a diagram of how your system is set up?

[atari70s]

untitled.bmp

 

 

 

thats the pic. mostly. minus the web of cables back there. the cable is a direct line from the cable box. to the 3 way

the games are a direct way from the 5 way box to the middle switch then that lonly 2600. i tried swaping the order does no good.

[atari70s]

i got it fixed. if u look at the diagram all i really had to is unplug the pink line ( to the TV) and directly connect the Dark GREEN atari 2600 RF box to the TO TV line. set the channel to 2 and it works just gotta re hook the TO TV line to the bottom of the 3 way when i want the cable to work

[A.J. Franzman]

I looked at your diagram - very good, thank you. Could have been a .gif image for smaller file size, but it's OK like it is for our purposes.

 

Is your "3-way splitter" just a box with 4 coaxial type "F" threaded connections on it, with no switches, pushbuttons, or power jack? Because if it is, you're using it wrong. Splitters actually work in all directions; you happen to be using yours as a combiner. This by itself is not a problem. The problem is, every signal you put into it comes out of every other connection on it. In this case, the bad thing is that whenever you're playing a videogame, the image of your game goes out on the line you have marked as "CABLE". Now, if that "cable" line goes to a cable TV decoder box, there's probably no cause for concern and you can leave everything as it is because your signal will not get past that. BUT, if your "cable" line is just that, a coaxial cable that carries all of your TV channels on it with no converter box between your house and the rest of the neighborhood (or apartment building, etc.), then every time you play a video game, you could be creating interference on all of your neighbors' TVs.

 

What you should have in place of that 3-way splitter is a coaxial cable 2-way switch box instead. See below:

 

This is just one method that will work, but it's a bit complicated. A better method would be if, instead of your 5-way game switch box, you had one with at least 7 inputs, including at least one RF input (2 RF inputs would allow you to work with everything you have pretty much as-is; with just 1 RF input you would need to modify your Atari for composite A/V output).