I have my parents old 2600 and I want to hook it up to the Zenith color console I just picked up but I have no idea how to do it.

I have a switch that was used on my parents old 80s Zenith console but there is nothing on the back to plug it into.

Any help would be appreciated.

You need to connect the output cable to the antenna input on the TV. The output cable should have an RCA phono-type plug, and you can use an adapter such as the Radio Shack #278-255 to convert to an "F" connector. Screw that adapter into the TV's antenna input (the VHF if it has bothy VHF and UHF) and set the TV to channel 2 or 3 (to match the switch on the Atari 2600). Turn off the game console to insert or remove a game cartridge, and you will need to have a cartridge in it to get a signal on the TV. Let us know if it works.

If the switch you have has an RCA jack, two screws, and a short piece of flat wire with two conductors about 3/8" apart (maybe with fork-shaped terminals on the two wire conductors), you can connect that to the VHF antenna screws on the TV if it has them. The Atari's cable would plug into the RCA jack on the switch, and you would slide its lever to the "Game" position. The first hookup method I described is better if you have a choice, though.

It was a lot easier than I thought!

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6095/6243418832_d4bde5e74a_b.jpg

There are only two screws on the back of the TV for the antenna so I disconnected the plug on the game adapter and just screwed into the back of the TV, plugged the game into the adapter and now I'm playing Dig Dug on my 1968 Zenith Color Console! I've got to clean up the bedroom the TV is being stored in and then I will get some pics posted.

Thanks for the help.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6168/6242957905_2e028e6ebc_b.jpg

Very cool. That is hooked up exactly as I expected, in my second description.

Yeah, I figured out what you were saying after I looked at it for a bit. The flat wire that is connected to the screws on the back of the TV had a plug attached to the end of it. I realized I could disconnect that and then hook it up the way you described.

Thanks for the help.

Awesome>! I was given a 2600 once and i still got it in storage but it had no horiz sync at all, tried a 60s b/w set, a modern Sony trinitron, and a few 80s color SS sets..as well as a new adapter...never tried fixing it.

Have the same Archer switchbox (we probably all do, come to think of it)

JWHarris, I just read your posts and am glad you got your Atari game console working with your vintage Zenith TV. (In the '80s I had an Atari 400 computer I successfully used with a Zenith b&w 12" solid-state portable, and later with a 13" 1980s Zenith SS color portable.) However, I'm wondering. Didn't you say you were going to have to find another home for that set because you just don't have the room? You said in one of your earlier posts that the TV was in a spare bedroom in your house, but it was in such a position that it was blocking the door. Did you move the set into another room, or is it still where it was? Just curious.

In the last picture, the TV is sitting where it is right now. It is in front of the nightstand with the bed to the right of it and the door to the left. I was able to move it up against the bed more so the door opens and closes but that is literally the only place in our whole apartment where it will fit right now. I have a large floor model radio, a drafting table and a computer desk on the other side of the room as well as boxes stacked in every open space. I would love to keep it and play atari on it everyday but it is really too big so I am going to find a smaller tv to put in my bedroom on top of the dresser so I can play it in there. Sadly, the console has to go.

Have you considered stacking something (the radio maybe) on the Zenith. Between being forced to move in to smaller digs, and my collection continuing to grow I'm comeing up with new ways to fit the proverbial 6lbs into a 5lb bag. If one is REALLY determined to make something fit it has a way of happening IMHO.

Hello JW,

That'a an OLD zenith!!

early 1970's to late 1960's anyone here can give this guy an exact year??, keep it's since your parents too.

Those have legendary chromacolor tubes and are among the best from zenith's own rauland CRT Plant, During zenith's "golden age", catching most of the market share. If you ever have the time or money, a good tech to knowhow to align and tweak set would be best. Amazing pictures these sets make. I have a 1977 zenith CCII, my younger boy simply commented on excellent picture quality. CRT may be tired, BUT a bad cap somewhere also makes a dimmer picture. If brightness is good as seems, disregard as not needed.

Only getting TV serviced you will find out. Willl increase reliablity insted of waiting for 30 to 40 y/o parts to die.

That very set is now in my living room, awaiting a few parts to make her picture perfect :)

Incidentally, though, it did occur to me that the picture could be brighter......

It was a lot easier than I thought!We had one of those white switcher things in the 80s! :)

Im glad ya got it figured out!

Now that Kamakiri owns this TV, I have my Atari hooked up to a 13" Admiral color portable and it is awesome! It doesn't take up any room sitting on the nightstand in the spare bedroom and the picture is amazing.

Truly a thing of beauty. This summer i hooked up my old atari 7800 up to my 21" bpc color tv and still had tons of fun with it. Oddly my nephews hate them. but LOVE the classic nintendo ive hooked up as well.

Nothing quite like Donkey Kong Country on an '80s Zenith TV.

Below that is a 1981 Mitsubishi VCR that still works great. Apparently it was the first to have a wireless remote, which is the size of a brick...

Hello the main problem with those chromacolor 2s the lumanance module would go bad which would make you think that the crt was weak I used to work on thoe sets when I worked in a friend of mines shop in thee 90s so check that module.. Timothy

My fiance and I finished the entire Donkey Kong country game about 2 weeks ago. Let me know if you need any pointers. I have to say that the ending was somewhat of a disappointment.....

Ending: years and years ago my wife got into 2600 Yar's Revenge and played and played it everybody getting excited and got to the end and what was the prize? It just started over again. What a letdown, but I guess that's as far as they could go with the pixelataciousness available then.

Hey, by the way, if anyone has a convergence board for this set, I still need one......

Nothing quite like Donkey Kong Country on an '80s Zenith TV:



http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa221/tim378/mailgooglecom.jpg



Below that is a 1981 Mitsubishi VCR that still works great. Apparently it was the first to have a wireless remote, which is the size of a brick...



What is the model number on the zenith? I just bought one almost identical to that one.

What is the model number on the zenith? I just bought one almost identical to that one.

It's a 1984 Zenith A1920W.

It was my grandparents' first color TV. I have many happy memories watching Saturday morning cartoons on it at their house - they had cable and we didn't, so it made each visit extra special.

Thirty-two years later it lives a semi-retired life, occasionally being fired up for retro gaming or VCR duty.

It's a 1984 Zenith A1920W.



It was my grandparents' first color TV. I have many happy memories watching Saturday morning cartoons on it at their house - they had cable and we didn't, so it made each visit extra special.



Thirty-two years later it lives a semi-retired life, occasionally being fired up for retro gaming or VCR duty.


Awesome! It looks similar to my 1987 Zenith V3912W (which has bedroom tv duty at the moment despite the weak CRT. The main difference is mine has a press on-press off power button and digital volume control. Same cabinet and probably same internals except for the tuner and power switch. I have a soft spot for 80s zenith sets, so that is exactly why I bought mine and hauled it 500 miles from Louisiana home to Georgia. I picked it up in a goodwill store in Slidell, LA earlier this year.http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160829/856dfb9cb7d22b3d45dc0fd4f22b83c1.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The knob based ones were not remote capable like yours is IIRC.

The knob based ones were not remote capable like yours is IIRC.



Mine is not a remote set to my knowledge. The power button is a push in/push out type. If it is a remote set, I don't see any IR sensors (usually conspicuous on an old set). Neither would it be possible to power on or off the set remotely.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Awesome! It looks similar to my 1987 Zenith V3912W (which has bedroom tv duty at the moment despite the weak CRT. The main difference is mine has a press on-press off power button and digital volume control. Same cabinet and probably same internals except for the tuner and power switch. I have a soft spot for 80s zenith sets, so that is exactly why I bought mine and hauled it 500 miles from Louisiana home to Georgia. I picked it up in a goodwill store in Slidell, LA earlier this year.http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160829/856dfb9cb7d22b3d45dc0fd4f22b83c1.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I remember seeing that set there...that Goodwill is a minute from work.

Sent from my LGLS740 using Tapatalk

I remember seeing that set there...that Goodwill is a minute from work.

Sent from my LGLS740 using Tapatalk



No kidding? It was a steal at $5.99. Why did you pass it up?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

As a TV collector I've passed up sets like that for $0.49 at thrifts....I try not to collect SS sets newer than delta-gun Zenith CCIIs...Too many more deserving all tube and hybrid sets out there to waste limited space with run-of-the-mill inline-gun SS sets.

As a TV collector I've passed up sets like that for $0.49 at thrifts....I try not to collect SS sets newer than delta-gun Zenith CCIIs...Too many more deserving all tube and hybrid sets out there to waste limited space with run-of-the-mill inline-gun SS sets.



I get that. For those of us who grew up with similar tvs and don't have storage space trouble (yet), these sets still have nostalgia value to us.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

First off the console was a rarely seen model. That control
layout wasnt made long. I checked all the line folders
and cant find it. If you have to junk it please try to find
it a home ! Start here in the classifides.

On the V3912W two ways to tell its a remote ( its NOT ).
If remote the model would start with an S then another
letter. Also if it has a hard on/off switch its not.
Zenith models starting with V, SV, T, ST, S, SS are not
regular line sets. They were sold to big stores, the model
numbers were to make it hard to compare. Sometimes
we could get them if they were over run. Guts are the
same on them, usually only cosmetic differences.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !