Maybe one of you guys can help me out, I have bought an old Famicom to play around on as I still had some japanese carts laying around. Instead of using the original cable included as its still sealed I used a normal NES RF switch cable and hooked it up to my European TV(s) RF but after scanning all the frequencies I can't seem to get anything at all! there are no leds on the famicom to indicate that its on, but it does get slightly a little hotter so I know its on (allthough no sound comes out of the controller speaker? dont even know if it should) anyway I was checking ebay and came across a item (famicom videostation) sold by one of our members where he mentions the following: The unit uses an RF switch so it will only work on Japanese TVs unless you know the workaround for it. So what is this workaround he is talking about? does anybody know this by any chance?
I recall the Japanese Famicom outputs RF at a frequency "between" two conventional channels. If your TV can do per-mhz channel tuning (not all of them do), you might be able to find it manually. That is, if your TV can even display NTSC over RF correctly, not many of them do. You might be better off AV-modding your FC.
Hmm AV modding isnt really an option, id rather just hook up my original NES and use a converter for my japanese carts. As I want to keep this console in 1 piece. Nice tip on that frequency issue, i'll try to find more information on it and see if one of my tv's has support for manually setting the frequencies. Thanks! good to know that thing isnt broken.
So I have been reading about it online after the tips antipasta gave me, it looks like I am going to sell this baby! I don't like stuff I can't play on and definitly not planning to modify it in any way as its in very good condition and boxed with everything included. Will be posting it up on the marketplace soon for the people interested.
I've got a Famicom lying around that I thought was broken, hopefully its just my TV wont pick it up. Will a TV tuner pick it up? I presume I will need to change the region setting in the software, what would this need to be? (ie NTSC#?)
Hey I've never done this myself, but from what I've heard you have to tune your TV to channel 96. That should give you a playable picture on US TVs, but I don't know about other markets. One guy just told me he added an adapter that worked so I got a picture of it from him: The picture above shows he got pretty good quality. Another guy I know did it without the adapter, so I'm guessing he used a standard RF switch. Im my auctions I say that some people have had success getting a picture on channel 96, but I can't guarantee anything. I'll see if I can find they guy's email and send the link to this thread to him. He might have some new tricks. I'm surprised this info hasn't made it around faster since a lot of people are buying up the old Nintendo pongs.
You should also be aware that apparently alot of used Famicoms are fried because of people using some random power supply. Atleast I've heard that happens alot. And AV modding Famicom's doesn't seem to be very hard so you could give that a shot.
AV modding can be done easily with some basic thin screened cable (you'll need three pieces), 3 phono plugs, a 75ohm resistor and two 1uf electrolytic caps, as you can put the caps and resistors in the phono plugs so all you need to do is solder 5 wires to the Famicom, which if done well can be unsoldered without leaving a trace. You can thread the cables through the vents on the underside of the machine or even out through the gaps around the RF socket so you don't have to drill holes in the machine, although tie a knot in the cable before so the knot will stop any jerks from ripping the cable out. Won't give a brilliant picture but it's still better then RF.
The only way you can use RF is if your TV can tune to 91.25/97.25 MHz and view NTSC. This correlates to JP channels 1 & 2 and US *cable* channels 95/96. I have had some FCs that have been altered to tune into channels 3/4 and 13/14 however. If you're going to do a composite video mod, you really need a little amp to get the video up to the proper level.
Great info thanks guys! I might consider doing the mod now that I know I don't need to drill holes in to it, will try and dig up some example pictures so I know where to solder the cables to. Did try and connected to an old VCR I had laying around and scanned/zapped over to the 90ties range but to no avail jFYI
You're using a PAL VCR for Western Europe right? Well the channel frequencies will be completely different than NTSC and probably even other PAL countries. I can't find a frequency table for cable channels for you, so the only sure way to use RF is to import a cable-ready NTSC VCR. Remember, cable channels, so don't use TOO old of a VCR; I think any from ~1997+ with an on screen display will be fine.
Good tip Calpis thanks! Yep using PAL B/G here in the Netherlands, and this was a PAL VCR, so an old ntsc VCR 97+ would be great if somebody has one left to sell? Another famicom specific question, should I be able to hear sound from the game in the second controller when I start it up? at this point I am just cusious if the damn thing works lol these no led machines give me the creeps!
OK, found a table: http://www.mastervideo.com/palbg_chart.htm Nothing is even close, sorry. The second controller has a microphone, not a speaker, so no. If you turn it on and off (don't do it too rapidly) on different broadcast channels (connect it directly to your TV) and notice interference, it probably works.
The second controller is a microphone, some games like Raid On Bungling bay uses it to play the game. I'll did out some scans of where you can solder the points to.
After reading this I gave up hope to ever get to play my old famicom. I´m glad I´ve got a Twin Famicom too.
