4 replies to this topic

[bradhig]

How come the channel select switch on most old school consoles was set to channel 3 or channel 4? Why not any other channels?

[save2600]

Because 3 and 4 were not commonly used throughout the country(?), so less chance of interference.

[SoundGammon]

There never was a location or city that had 2 OFF-AIR TV stations next to each other in the adjacent frequency range, so there would be no interference from the other channel. There was always a blank or unused channel between them, Our tv station was on channel 4 so we had to set the switch to 3 so we wouldn't get interference from channel 4. I tried it once but to much bleed over from the off-air channel, which broadcast with about 50,000 watts, so it was powerful. Cable TV, has a very low output so adjacent channel cross-talk is avoided! Also, the 3 to 4 range was in the lower frequency spectrum and was easier to generate. You could redo the rf modulator and have it put out different channels if you want.

Edited by SoundGammon, Thu Dec 1, 2011 8:48 PM.

[bohoki]

when i grew up 4,5,7 were the networks

i wonder why they used vhf instead of the uhf

[NinjaWarrior]

I wonder why also, on the VCS it's Ch. 2 or Ch. 3

I wish there's a thing that let's you change the VHF Channel..

Like if you have your VCS set on Ch. 2 - you set that thing to Channel 5 overriding Ch. 2