Andy's Atari CTF-1 Test rig page

Andy's Atari CTF-1 test rig page

last updated December 27, 2008

This is a rough page for now detailing my CTF-1 test rig, in need of total restoration!

Its a personal collection item, to restore for a rainy day!

Sales Flyers for the CTF-1 :

Backstory:

In December of 2008 i was lucky enough to finally get my hands on an Atari CTF-1 test rig.
I purchased it through eBay from Schwenksville, Pennsylvania, USA, it took a while to ship, but it landed just fine! I know eBay isn't exactly orignal detective work, but these things just aren't that common!
While the machine didn't look complete, I knew i had to have it, what with my Atari 1970's pcb collection as it was.. i took the chance to grab it while i had some money kicking around and i fealt like cheering myself up (as you do at christmas time). So, with my ridiculous impulse purchase secured, i sat and waited. I told some guys online about the new aquisition, one of whom said that he remembers actually talking with a guy who still had it in his workshop a few years back, and he said there was a big box of plugs that went with it.

So i asked the seller of my new CTF-1 if there was any chance he had picked up a box of plugs with it, but hadn't realised what they were... Sure enough he got back to me a few days later and said he found them, we negotiated a further payment and he wrapped them up with the machine and shipped it.

I could already see from the auction pictures that some weird- re-wiring had gone on, there was an AR1 hanging off of it for a start, and a little wooden panel marked 'Asteroids on/off' on the front. No doubt it got to the end of its useful life and became useful for asteroids only.. who knows.

December 20th 2008:
After having a few phone calls with the shipping company to sort out the obligatory customs import charges and related shenanigans, a big curtain-sided lorry turned up outside my house..

The driver was very good, and helped lift the damn thing off the 6ft high bed of the truck, and carry it into my house. I think it weighs in the region of 80 kgs

And there it sat... ready to be unpeeled...

Removing the layers off revealed a cardboard box full of plugs... inside the box with the plugs there lay half scrunched up - lots of sheets of paper which look like real Atari pinout information sheets, no doubt provided with the plugs themselves when you bought them..

Look in the table further down the page for photos of the plugs themselves.

	An overall picture of the rig itself..
	The monitor.. Judging by the flyers i've seen, my rig is probably a later version, with the re-styled monitor housing. Mine also has some added pots for volume.
	The mulitmeter is missing, but this is no big deal, its just a fluke 8000A that i will pick up at some point. Above this panel is a big gap, this is where the universal expansion module should go, its entirely missing which is really quite annoying, and i dare say will be a pain in the arse to find or replace.
	Here are the controls, very robust!

ATARI factory-made CTF-1 Program Plugs:
Game Name	Paperwork?	Datestamp?	Photo	Notes
4 Player Football		Sep 17 1979
Asteroid		Oct 27 1979
Lunar Lander		-
Red Baron		Mar 30 1981
Soccer		Jan 7 1980		Does have 2 stamps, an earlier one from Sep 23 1979
Sprint I		Mar 23 1978
Sprint II		-
Super Breakout		Aug 21 1978

Summary

So, i'm missing the side panels, the big interface bit in the middle, the fluke multimeter and countless other bits and bobs... its a project i'll get round to at some point!


some photos of a complete early CTF-1	Arc Arc Xmission

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These pages are (C) Andy Welburn 1996-2002. I cannot be held responsible if the information supplied herein results in a blown monitor/power supply/house fuse/mind. Oh yeah, have a nice day :)

Backstory:
In December of 2008 i was lucky enough to finally get my hands on an Atari CTF-1 test rig. I purchased it through eBay from Schwenksville, Pennsylvania, USA, it took a while to ship, but it landed just fine! I know eBay isn't exactly orignal detective work, but these things just aren't that common! While the machine didn't look complete, I knew i had to have it, what with my Atari 1970's pcb collection as it was.. i took the chance to grab it while i had some money kicking around and i fealt like cheering myself up (as you do at christmas time). So, with my ridiculous impulse purchase secured, i sat and waited. I told some guys online about the new aquisition, one of whom said that he remembers actually talking with a guy who still had it in his workshop a few years back, and he said there was a big box of plugs that went with it.
	So i asked the seller of my new CTF-1 if there was any chance he had picked up a box of plugs with it, but hadn't realised what they were... Sure enough he got back to me a few days later and said he found them, we negotiated a further payment and he wrapped them up with the machine and shipped it. I could already see from the auction pictures that some weird- re-wiring had gone on, there was an AR1 hanging off of it for a start, and a little wooden panel marked 'Asteroids on/off' on the front. No doubt it got to the end of its useful life and became useful for asteroids only.. who knows.
December 20th 2008: After having a few phone calls with the shipping company to sort out the obligatory customs import charges and related shenanigans, a big curtain-sided lorry turned up outside my house.. The driver was very good, and helped lift the damn thing off the 6ft high bed of the truck, and carry it into my house. I think it weighs in the region of 80 kgs And there it sat... ready to be unpeeled...
	Removing the layers off revealed a cardboard box full of plugs... inside the box with the plugs there lay half scrunched up - lots of sheets of paper which look like real Atari pinout information sheets, no doubt provided with the plugs themselves when you bought them.. Look in the table further down the page for photos of the plugs themselves.