Levels of RF interference

[rheffera]

i have found when i play on my woody(non-heavy) i odnt get as much RF static on screen as when i do my Jr. But the worst one ive encounterd is my vader. puts a lot of RF static out compared even to my Jr, along with Barbershop pole effects, while the woody on the same TV gives a crystal clear RF static free picture. YOu'd think the Jr. Would be RF static free and the Woody staticy as hell due to age, but then again they are built like tanks...any one care to explain?

[Ghost Soldier]

I've experienced the pole effect on my vader as well. As far as picture quality my light sixer seems to be the best followed by my jr.

[supercat]

i have found when i play on my woody(non-heavy) i odnt get as much RF static on screen as when i do my Jr. But the worst one ive encounterd is my vader. puts a lot of RF static out compared even to my Jr, along with Barbershop pole effects, while the woody on the same TV gives a crystal clear RF static free picture. YOu'd think the Jr. Would be RF static free and the Woody staticy as hell due to age, but then again they are built like tanks...any one care to explain?

 

My wife's Woody has very little static, but a noticeable shadow every time the TIA is written. Makes it easy to see which games use fixed-timing kernels and variable-timing kernels, but sorta annoying otherwise.

[shadow460]

I used to get poles on my own woody. That thing's not around anymore, but the 7800 does have a faint bit of pole to it, and it'll get snowy when the RF cable starts to unscrew itself.

Otherwise, I expect it has about the RF quality of a Jr.

[A.J. Franzman]

I've had a few systems come through my hands where I could not track down the cause of the "barber pole" problem. It's very frustrating. I think it has several possible causes, and some consoles suffer more than one of the causes. I most strongly suspect bad capacitors, possibly the ones mentioned in the Tech Tips in the back of the Field Service Manual and possibly others as well. Bad voltage regulators are often mentioned in relation to it, but so far none of the problem units I've had improved much if at all from replacing it.

 

In my experience, snow is usually due to a bad RF cable or connection, but sometimes also to the RF module being slightly out-of-tune.

Edited December 20, 2006 by A.J. Franzman