Colecovision RF connections

[WordPlusNumber]

I recently bought a Colecovision from eBay that does not have any of the RF adapter stuff. What kinds of connectors and cables should I pick up from Radio Shack to make it work?

I've already purchased an old-style switch-box from there, but one of my friends told me that there was a kind of adapter that also works fine that is much cheaper. I tried using a standard audio cable with the switch-box and my picture came out all garbled and stuff. What kind of cable do I need to get that will work as a Colecovision game cable? Thanks.

- JK

[wberdan]

I recently bought a Colecovision from eBay that does not have any of the RF adapter stuff. What kinds of connectors and cables should I pick up from Radio Shack to make it work?

I've already purchased an old-style switch-box from there, but one of my friends told me that there was a kind of adapter that also works fine that is much cheaper. I tried using a standard audio cable with the switch-box and my picture came out all garbled and stuff. What kind of cable do I need to get that will work as a Colecovision game cable? Thanks.

- JK

yeah for some reason an audio cable doesnt work... might be the fact that the cables are 75ohms and the colecovision needs something different.... im not sure on that, but in general i have found that the crappier the cable, the better the chance it works with the CV.
try any possible cable you can get your hands on easy.
also dont use the switchbox- get a 'female rca to male F connector" sometimes they call F connectors 'cable plugs'.. like the kind that just would plug right into your antenna input.


willie

[skoldpadda]

you mean something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...133765762&rd=1

you can get them at your local radio shack as well, I believe.

[Lady Jaye]

Interesting, although the drawback to this is that you have to disconnect the cable connection (if you have analog cable) to use it.

The only thing that's too bad is that the switchbox generation of consoles (atari, coleco, intv) aren't compatible with the Nintendo RF (I tried last week with my Atari 2600). That's too bad, because it'd mean only one connector type to the TV for all the different vintage consoles (instead of one for the pre-crash consoles, another one for the 8- (ie. post-crash) and 16-bit consoles, plus the proprietary RCA of modern consoles).

[wberdan]

you mean something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...133765762&rd=1

you can get them at your local radio shack as well, I believe.

yes, exactly! and yeah you can get the for a couple dollars at radio shack-

thanks for posting the link- i was too lazy to look it up


willie

[wberdan]

Interesting, although the drawback to this is that you have to disconnect the cable connection (if you have analog cable) to use it.

The only thing that's too bad is that the switchbox generation of consoles (atari, coleco, intv) aren't compatible with the Nintendo RF (I tried last week with my Atari 2600). That's too bad, because it'd mean only one connector type to the TV for all the different vintage consoles (instead of one for the pre-crash consoles, another one for the 8- (ie. post-crash) and 16-bit consoles, plus the proprietary RCA of modern consoles).

yeah, but a good thing is you dont get switchbox induced noise in the picture. and i swear, no joke- i have had two switchboxes from radio shack die in no time for no reason- and those were new.
maybe i have just had bad luck with them, but i dont recommend the switchboxes. plus they cost like 7 or 8 bucks as opposed to 2 bucks.

willie

[WordPlusNumber]

I'll take a look out for the adapter then.

What about the cable? Is there something in specific that would work better than a normal audio cable? What's different about the older cables that makes them work better with the CV?

[wberdan]

I'll take a look out for the adapter then.

What about the cable? Is there something in specific that would work better than a normal audio cable? What's different about the older cables that makes them work better with the CV?

i dont know- like i said its my theory that the cables have a different OHM rating than typical audio cables.

like... i dont know if this will work, but look for a 300ohm rca cable at radio shack-

maybe someone that knows the output impedance of the colecovision can shed light on this...

i might be compeltely wrong about this though-


willie

[Sylentwulf]

Audio cables arent shielded against RF interference. They WILL work fine, but there will be a ton of static on the screen as well.

http://www.electricquarter.com/cadapter.htm