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IIeBoy

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 26, 2009
98
16
Can anyone remember a sort of RF modulator that required you to unscrew the back off your TV and hard wire it into the antenna wiring of your color television set, in the hopes of seeing your Apple //e in color?

Thanks!
 
Is it something like this you're looking for?
d157a22cb7b6f66f0ef06cdd4c58959d.jpg
 
Yes, it was like that definitely with the spade connectors not any other type, but the box was completely different. Just a metal shell with a label kind of thing. Any ideas?
 
Yup that's it! Any idea what to search for on eBay? I can't find them... Thank you!
 
It's definitely called an RF Modulator but as time marches on its harder to get the old ones. The y clip version is a 300 ohm version. The more standard one today is the 75 ohm F connector.

It's been many years since I played with this stuff a possible way is to get a 75/300 transformer and an rf modulator with the f connector which most seem to have. Another idea is to use an old vcr with the transformer and connect the computer composite to the vcr. Just spitballing here.
 
Looks very likely! The slider lines up.

Thanks!
 
Can you confirm if it has the generic metal one pictured above, inside?
 
I'm curious why you're interested specifically in the metal-housing one. If you are (hey, this whole subforum is for nostalgia,) then don't get the Apple one just to rip it apart - the generic metal ones are available everywhere.

Also, re-reading your original, I don't recall these *EVER* going inside the TV - they would attach to the antenna leads on the exterior of the TV, and you would slide the switch to pick either actual broadcast TV signal or signal from your device (RF modulation computer, video game console, etc.)
 
It's purely for nostalgia. That's why I'd like to find the same type I had.

When I was 11 I had such a time with my dad trying to install this in our colour TV so we could see what the great //e looked like in "real life". The instructions definitely said to install it inside the TV (or at least inside our British TV). Why else would it have spade connectors as pictured?

I know this because we had the back off the TV, and I was promptly electrocuted and thrown back across the room. Sort of thing that rather gets fried into your memories! ;-)
 
Some very old TVs didn't have external screw terminals for a 300ohm antenna connection.

However, MOST TVs from about 1970s onwards would have 300ohm screw terminals externally on the back but some of the very last TVs would only have the 75ohm coax connector.

I DO recall a very old set of instructions that advised taking the back off the TV to accomplish adding a secondary RF input.

And if I had an Apple RF switch like the one pictured, I wouldn't be cracking it open. They're probably worth more intact.
 
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Yeah, I won't be opening it. I do have the black one as well pictured above for another system, TRS-80.
 
Thanks guys.

I wasn't sure if the Apple one had a simple screw on the other side. I certainly wouldn't ask you to crack it open!

I DO recall a very old set of instructions that advised taking the back off the TV to accomplish adding a secondary RF input.

I don't suppose you're referring to a scan you can link to are you?
 
Thanks anyway. I'll wait for Apple to release their gray matter interface ;)
 
It's purely for nostalgia. That's why I'd like to find the same type I had.

When I was 11 I had such a time with my dad trying to install this in our colour TV so we could see what the great //e looked like in "real life". The instructions definitely said to install it inside the TV (or at least inside our British TV). Why else would it have spade connectors as pictured?

I know this because we had the back off the TV, and I was promptly electrocuted and thrown back across the room. Sort of thing that rather gets fried into your memories! ;-)

Ah, alright. Our mid-70s TV when I was a kid had the spade connectors eternally-accessible. Maybe a UK-vs-US thing? I knew that *VERY* old TVs might have the spade connectors on the inside, but every TV I knew of had them externally-accessible. (Even as a kid, I'd help my grandma with hers - her early cable box was a piece of junk that needed tweaking regularly, so I had to disconnect and reconnect it often. And her TV was mid-60s at best - a "console" model, complete with AM radio and record player hidden under two of the top panels. She still has the console today, but she replaced the actual TV a couple years ago when the old one crapped out.)
 
The spade connectors were definitely on all the TVs I remember growing up too. Where else would you connect one of these:

AN8105.jpg


You can see the same terminals on the coax adapter too.

Or your friendly neighborhood 300 Ohm twinlead.

Come to think of it most of my audio Receivers also had screw terminals for the FM antennas.

B
 
It was a 1970s Sony Trinitron. I'd like to think we had a good reason for opening it up. ;-)
 
Whoa, major flashback! I had two or three of those generic modulators back in the day. I think I got mine from Radio Shack, but they were ubiquitous.

I never saw an Apple-branded one though, that's new to me.
 
None of those are RF Modulators, that's just the switch to go between antenna inputs. The output of the RF Modulator could also just be attached directly to the TV as there's nothing that's broadcasting on analog otherwise.

The modern day external version:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0014KKV7W/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1


The era-authentic item:

supermod.jpg

There's a 4 pin connector near the 16 pin game connector inside near the rear right. (Slot 7 area), that these and similar units plug into.

Both of these examples would them plug into one of those previous switch options

----------

I never saw an Apple-branded one though, that's new to me.
The Apple branded one is part of the RF Modulator set for the Apple //c, where the other portion connects to the back of the computer and there's a same colored shielded RCA cable to go between them.
 
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Thanks. The one I was looking for was definitely the previous one with the spade connectors. I thought it did more than just a switch.
 
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