RF Switching

[Schenley]

I've been experimenting with different ways of having 5-10 different old school systems on one TV with some type of switching. It's easy with AV cables (see my setup on www.brokenclavicle.com/arcade - the switcher is in the 9th and 10th pictures).

I tried something similar with the older systems that use RF cables such as the 2600 and the Odyssey2. The output is a simple RF switch into one of those connector gizmos like this:

http://www.atariage.com/howto/images/rca_coax_adapter.jpg (http://www.atariage.com/howto/connect.html)

In theory, at least in my mind, this should work. However, the picture quality is crappy. I've tried similar switch boxes and different cables with varying, but dismal results.

The only thing that works rather well, is this 2 position switch:
http://www.accessorywarehouse.com/images/photos/200-310-L.jpg
I got one on Ebay a while back.

However, this only allows switching between two systems. Anyone know of an easy way to get to switch between 10 systems?

[alec006]

Well you can do it with 5, 3 input switch boxes:

S = System
1 = System Number
A = Anntena or Cable
D = Divider Box


INPUT>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
S1 S2 S3 D1 S4 S5 D2 S6 S7 D3 S8 S9
[___1____] [___2____] [___3____] [___4___]
Output>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

INPUT
D4 S10 A
[___5___]
Output

Ill try to explain it better if you need more info.Quality well is kind of ok,it depends on your opinion. Now there may be more dividers with 4 or more coaxal inputs but thats how you would do it with the 3 Input Divider. Hope this helps and Nice game room. BTW I see Halo 2 and a RED LED Xbox. Wow

[Schenley]

I think I got it... And, I was thinking along those lines too...

By 'divider,' you mean one of these dudes, right?

http://www.accesorywarehouse.com/images/photos/10-2026-L.jpg (http://www.accesorywarehouse.com/shop/customer/product.php?productid=20237&cat=1186&page=1)

Good pickup on the pictures! That shows how old the picture is - I was playing Halo2 back then! ;-)

[alec006]

Yea,thats one model of those,i just call them a divider because they divide 3 signals into 1. Again Quality,well its RF and it is unpredictible in signal quality. The quality is pretty good with these thats what i use. BTW you beat me in A/V Dividers you have 5 I have 4,every input is taken LOL .

[FABombjoy]

If you keep your eyes open at thrift stores you're bound to run into a multi-device RF switchbox. I've found (and passed up) many of them. I even sold one here awhile back with either 8 or 10 inputs. I still have 2 - one with like 6 inputs / 3 outputs, and one with 5 inputs / 2 outputs.

[Schenley]

BTW you beat me in A/V Dividers you have 5 I have 4,every input is taken LOL .Yea, when I devised that and put it together, I only had half of the ports used and couldn't really see a need for five tiers. I now have three open ports - but probably not for long!

If I had the time and skills to do all the AV mods, I would definitely have it filled!

[SkiDragon]

Before you send it through the F-cable converter, couldnt you switch with the "RCA" cable. The RF signal is sent through an "RCA" looking cable. You could use two 5 switch RCA boxes to switch 17 devices! How? Plug the RCA RF cables into the yellow, red, and white RCA inputs, and send the outputs to separate yellow inputs on the second switcher. Plus, you still have two extra inputs on the second switcher. Then only convert the final signal to the F-cable.

[Schenley]

Before you send it through the F-cable converter, couldnt you switch with the "RCA" cable. The RF signal is sent through an "RCA" looking cable. You could use two 5 switch RCA boxes to switch 17 devices! How? Plug the RCA RF cables into the yellow, red, and white RCA inputs, and send the outputs to separate yellow inputs on the second switcher. Plus, you still have two extra inputs on the second switcher. Then only convert the final signal to the F-cable.That's precisely what I tried to explain in my first post in this thread. In re-reading that post, I see I did not even come close to explaining it. It's where I said in theory, it should work. But it doesn't. I get crappy picture quality doing that. I even tried using a shielded RCA cable from the RCA switch into the F cable.

Have you done this sucessfully?

[SkiDragon]

I have not tried this myself. The only reason I can think that would cause this to not work is the fact that the cord coming out of the system itself is an "RF cable", which supposedly is not identical to an RCA cable.

[Schenley]

If you keep your eyes open at thrift stores you're bound to run into a multi-device RF switchbox. I've found (and passed up) many of them. I even sold one here awhile back with either 8 or 10 inputs. I still have 2 - one with like 6 inputs / 3 outputs, and one with 5 inputs / 2 outputs.Well, if anyone should run into one, or even a part number, please let me know.

Searching for one on google or even ebay is a fruitless task.