Metal lable on older carts for RF shielding?

rwv01 · Post by **rwv01** » Sun Aug 25, 2013 7:14 pm

Hi guys. Just wondering what you might think...
Could the metal lable on early VIC-20 cartridges have been for RF shielding? It seems like an expensive way to make a lable otherwise.

Maybe later they determined it was unneccessary and stopped using them on the newer carts.

Vic20-Ian · Post by **Vic20-Ian** » Sun Aug 25, 2013 10:43 pm

I am guessing but it may have been a carry over from Japan launch then subject to cost reduction.

Japanese CDs have much higher quality mini LP versions duplicating original 70s LPs, UK ones don't

pallas · Post by **pallas** » Mon Aug 26, 2013 12:23 am

Shouldn't the label be connected to ground to shield effectively?

rwv01 · Post by **rwv01** » Mon Aug 26, 2013 2:06 pm

Good points.
And Commodore was using aluminum labels on their computers and disk drives so putting them on cartridges too might be expected.

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Mon Aug 26, 2013 3:05 pm

The metal labels cannot shield RF. For this to work well, even connecting the labels to ground would not be sufficient, it also would have required a completely metalized cartridge case. For a similar reason, the metalized cardboard 'RF shield' is not effective, as the RF can leak out to all sides: all it does is keep the heat inside.

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Tue Aug 27, 2013 1:10 am

That's why I opened up all my Commodores and threw them away!