suggestions on BBC Micro, voltage converter, PAL monitor (in US)?

From: Carlini, Antonio <Antonio.Carlini_at_riverstonenet.com>
Date: Mon Apr 22 13:09:01 2002

>You could buy a 110-220 step-up transformer, and that usually has
the
>european two prong plug built in. I myself would see if the power
>supply has a split primary for the mains power; then rewire/flip
the
>switch for 110 operation and just use a US style power cord.

        No doubt you can get a suitable two-prong plug
        with an IEC on the other end of the lead, but
        in the UK (and the beeb is, after all, a UK box)
        the standard plugs are three-pin.

>Monitor: If it is an RGB with seperate outputs, the NTSC/PAL
question
>is moot. I know that US RGB monitors for the Amiga will sync to
PAL
>rates (625 lines, 50Hz) with no problems. The conflict arises only
when
>the video is composite, as the color information is encoded
>differently. I have seen small converters for sale, that change
PAL
>video to NTSC and vice versa. I've never seen how good/bad they
work,
>but that is a viable alternative, if your only output is composite
>video.

        A small cub monitor cannot be much
        harder to ship than a beeb can it?
        The real problem is possibly going to
        be the 50Hz/60Hz issue. I know that
        in the lab (in the UK) we used to have
        a 110/120V 60Hz supply specifically
        for the oddball US kit we used to end up
        with, but that was (IIRC) done with
        something a little beefier than
        a stepup transformer. The small
        (but very, very) heavy step down
        transformer we also had, did nothing
        to convert the frequency (not a problem
        if all you want is juice, but if anything
        is trying to generate an approximate
        clock from the line frequencey ....)


        Antonio
Received on Mon Apr 22 2002 - 13:09:01 BST