Tempest dip switch question

From: Joseph Magiera <joemagiera_at_ameritech.net>
Date: Tue Jun 04 2013 - 10:57:04 EDT

All of the Tempest dip switch options are pretty straight forward except one:
 
Dip switch #2 on the Tempest Aux board at location D/E2.  The back door sheet and manual state this:
 
Off         Minimum rating range: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9  $
On          Minimum rating range tied to high score
 
Unless I missed it, no further explanation is given on this dip.  Tempest gives you the option to start at higher levels.  When you start a game for the first time, you can select levels 1, 3, 5, 7, 9.  As you complete higher levels, you can start at higher levels on the next game (if started within one attract mode sequence), as per the chart on page 2 of this Tempest Bulletin:
 
http://arcarc.xmission.com/PDF_Arcade_Atari_Kee/Tempest/Tempest_Bulletin_Skill_Step.pdf
 
The dip switch above indicates to me that when off, after a full attract mode sequence has completed, you can only select a starting level of 1, 3, 5, 7, 9.  When on (even after an attract mode sequence), you can start at the level indicated on the Tempest Bulletin above and the high score on the machine.  However, in actual practice, I don’t find this to be the case.  After finishing a game on level 12, I was able to start at level 11 when starting within an attract mode sequence.  But then after waiting a full attract mode sequence and starting a new game, I could only select up to level 9.
 
Has anyone else done any experimenting with this dip or can further explain exactly what it means and how it’s supposed to perform?
 
Also, does anyone else find it odd that on the self-test screen, only 3 of the 4 dip switch banks are displayed?
 
Joe (joemagiera at ameritech dot net)
joemagiera@ameritech.net
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Received on Tue Jun 4 10:57:32 2013

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