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Pure Bollocks Issue 22_008
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* F A L C O N * I N F O
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THE STRANGE CASE OF THE FALCON AND THE FCC REGULATIONS
Okay-dokey, this was presented as an item in ST Report Online mag. Apparently
one of their readers disagrees with what they found out about the Falcon and it
passing the FCC regulations!
----------------------------------------------
Presented below is the latest tirade from Jerry Cross. It appears he
has taken off the "kid gloves" and outrightly called myself and STReport
liars. That's good.. as there is nothing as good as a direct accusation
to prove definitely wrong and put an end to his non-sense and double talk.
Please overlook his use of expletives.... <sigh>
An Open letter to the editor of ST-Reports. I am requesting that this
message be published but hold little hope it will be.
Permission is granted to reprint as long as entire message is left intact.
===================
Mr. Mariano,
I have requested several times that we discuss this matter in the Genie
message bases in hopes that we could somehow resolve this nonsense.
Instead, time after time you refuse to reply to my messages, and you now
resort to replying to my concerns in the pages of STR. Unfortunately this
is a one-way dialog since I have no way to reply to your comments in a
public forum. You constantly refuse to publish any of my messages, and
therefore your readers only know your side of the story.
Your recent commentary in Issue 9.09 of STR has finally forced me to come
forward as forcefully as possible. You have now resorted to defaming me
in public, and I no longer will allow this.
In short, Mr. Mariano, I am now publicly calling you a liar. It's time to
sh** or get off the pot.
For the benefit of those who don't read your newsletter, let me reprint
your comments and I'll give my side of the story.
From Issue #9.09
===============
"To our readers;
"Mr. Cross decided to resurrect an old and very tired matter about the
FCC and Atari with his outrageous claims that STReport didn't have the
facts, was blowing smoke, etc.. STReport's contention is its Mr.
Cross who's very busy "blowing smoke" in an attempt to cloud the
entire matter for some unknown reasons. One can only wonder who or
what is "prompting" him. The information STReport obtained from the
FCC is obtainable by anyone caring to take the time and initiative to
seek it out. Anyone doing so will soon discover STReport did indeed
present the whole truth."
===============
Nothing was resurrected. I have been attempting to get the facts about
this story out since November, when Ralph first made public statements on
the F-Net that the Falcon was not FCC certified. Even though Mr. Mariano
had a statement from Mr. Bob Brodie that the story in Z-Net was not
accurate, Mr. Mariano continued to spread this story without any serious
attempt to investigate it. I'll explain about this later.
Mr. Mariano implies that I am being put up to this by some unknown source.
This is not true. I am a serious Atari supporter who is tired of
constantly trying to stop the spread of rumors published in STR. This
rumor was spread for one purpose only. To discredit Mr. Bob Brodie and
make him look bad by implying that he was lying about the statis of the
Falcon's certification. No one encourage me to speak up about this, and
I'm insulted that Mr. Mariano constantly implies this every time I have
the nerve to speak up and challenge something he reports on.
And yes, the information reported on is readily available to anyone who
cares to seek it out. It only takes a phone call. I strongly encourage
anyone who doubts the accuracy of what I'm reporting to verify it
yourself. Mr. Mariano made the mistake of believing that most of his
readers believes what he says with unquestionable loyalty. I am not one
of them. Therefore, he must now be asked to explain his sloppy reporting.
Mr. Mariano then went on to question why I objected to having my messages
printed in STR. As explained, I have no problem with that. The trouble is
I have sent him dozens of messages over the past two months, and he has
constantly refused to publish them. Most of the messages posted on Genie
were simply ignored altogether. The message that he has reprinted in Issue
#9.09 and #9.07 were actually messages sent to another person. It's
curious how he can find the time to answer other people's mail and not
have time to answer my messages to him.
To continue...
=======
"Mr. Cross continues to accuse and bleat nonsense about the accuracy
of our presentation relative to the FCC and the events surrounding the
certification of Atari computers and in particular, the Falcon030.
Rest assured, STReport would not dare to misquote the Federal
Communications Commission. Extreme care was exercised in composing
the reports and we guarantee accuracy in their presentation."
========
As I have stated to Mr. Mariano in the past, I do not question his facts,
only his interpretation. I have made every attempt to try and show him he
was wrong. I have supplied him with a number of sources I have called at
the FCC. I was willing to give Ralph the benefit of the doubt. It was
possible his source gave him inaccurate information. It was possible that
a misunderstanding had occured. Either way, all I wanted was to clear
this matter up and make everyone happy.
After all, the information was public knowledge. There was simply no
reason for him to withhold his sources at the FCC. But instead this is
the reply I get...
==============
"In the meantime, we welcome anyone's input in this matter. In fact,
we would be pleased to assist anyone caring to verify the information
by providing the telephone numbers in Washington D.C. and in Laurel
MD. where the individuals are located. Mr. Cross, in the ever so
usual litany, is demanding we reveal our "sources" within the FCC.
How very original. Simply put, STReport will not, as always, comply
with such requests. Our sources are just that.... OURS!"
===========
Gosh, you can just about SMELL the smoke, can't you? On one hand he's
willing to assist anyone wanting to verify the information, but then he
turns around and says it's STR's practice NEVER to honor such requests.
This message was followed by this....
==============
"STReport's source(s) at the Commission are STReport's business not
yours or anybody else's for that matter. As you good and well know,
STReport will only release a source ID if that source approves of such
action. But then, why should those sources be revealed? To make it
easier for others to obtain info? STReport's sources at the FCC are
not at all in question _except in your mind_. You can stand on your
interpretation all you wish. However, facts are facts and history
bears that out to the tee in this matter. As for you giving me your
sources at the FCC, all you gave me was, incredibly, a FIRST NAME!
Again, you try to color the truth with your interpretations of what
you think you 'heard'. Stick to the facts. They will, as always,
prevail."
=================
Now then, let me explain the last part of his statement. When this story
first began to unfold, Mr. Marian was insisting that Atari supply him with
the FCC Certification number. This was important so that Ralph could
continue to spread around his lies concerning the certification. It goes
like this.....
Ralph's sole source of information at the FCC was the FCC BBS. This is a
publicly accessable service supplied by the FCC so the public could access
certification records. In order to access this information it was
necessary to have the certification number. Now, that in itself is quite
funny. Stay with me with this....You need a certification number to prove
there is a certification number.
Now what would happen I gave Ralph the FCC number. He would call the FCC
BBS, of course, and search for a file on the Falcon. As he later found
out, the FCC BBS is not quite up to date. The information is not input by
the FCC labs but is gathered by the public information office. It takes
time for this information to flow down to it, so the information had not
yet been posted.
Now the next step would be Ralph not finding the files. That's all the
proof he needed to verify his claim it was not verified.
Anyway, Ralph wanted the number. So I did what should have been quite
simple for Mr. Mariano to do, I called the FCC myself. After about three
hours of being bounced around I finally was put in touch with someone
named Dave at the FCC's Technical Specifications department. Dave agreed
to search for the certification number for me, which he supplied after
about 10 minutes of searching.
Now, nice guy that I am, I tried to pass this information on to Ralph. I
made it as simple as I could. I informed Mr. Mariano that he could get his
much sought after proof of certification by simply calling the number I
supplied and asking for Dave. Unfortunately, I underestimated Mr.
Mariano's ability to do simple investigative work. After all, there could
be more then one Dave there, right? So he didn't call the number. Instead,
he continued to spread the false rumor that the Falcon was not certified,
and continued to do so until a number of messages on Genie finally forced
him to follow through and get the proof. Incredible as it may sound, he
still refused to call up Dave. Instead, he finds someone at the FCC labs
to search for it. His original report, as printed in a January issue of
STR, claimed that they couldn't even FIND a file on the Falcon. They later
managed to stumble across the information and it was published a week
later.
But here is the problem. The last thing Mr. Mariano wanted to prove was
that the Falcon was actually certified in November. HE COULDN'T! He was
reporting for over a month at it wasn't certified. To now say it was
actually certified all along would require that he appolize to Mr. Brodie
for calling him a liar, and to appolize to the readers of ST-Reports, the
users, and myself, for spreading false rumors. He even tried to cover up
his mess by blaiming Atari for not giving the number out, and even the
publisher of Z-Net for starting this mess in the first place!
We now come to the good stuff....here is another excert......
=================
"Jerry, we've known each other for quite some time and I must say your
insistence upon this tack of my not having the real facts concerning
the FCC is ludicrous! The information was dictated to STReport and
presented verbatim in STReport 902. No embellishments, nothing but
the facts just the way we got them from the Engineer in Charge. You
proved nothing, absolutely nothing except that of an attempt to build
a facade of smoke and mirrors. The Falcon was class B certified on
January 8th. Since the previous certification with its requirements
were appealed by Atari, that certification was rendered invalid. You
failed to understand that point of information."
===========
Note the phrase "The Engineer in Charge". Also referred to in past
messages to me as "The Head Engineer".
I sent Ralph a messages about this question. Unfortunately, it ended up in
the pile of other unpublished messages he received from me.
In it, I requested the source for his information. You have already read
the reply I got. So I was forced to once again get on the phone and verify
Mr. Mariano's story.
Let me clarify this again. The "facts" that I am trying to find is what
happened to the November certification.
Here is Mr. Mariano's interpretation of the "facts".
=============
"Atari indeed had certification in late November 1992 for a very, very
short time. Counted in days. Once the appeal over the special monitor
cable was made, the certification was gone. Gone at the time we
brought the matter to the attention of our readers. Gone until the
Falcon030's re-certification on January 8th 1993. In fact there was
no certification at all during Comdex Fall'92 it was only _applied
for_. You cannot possibly have any idea of when STReport or myself
first contacted the FCC. Yet, you try to give the readers the
illusion you do. The fact is this allegation is pure fantasy on your
part. Another of your many statements made with no basis in fact.
You see, STReport was in contact with the FCC from the time period
right after Comdex Fall'92 when the first indications began surfacing
about the Falcon030 having NO FCC Class B certification. STReport
stayed in close contact with the FCC relative to this matter until
such time as we posted the most recent certification (01/08/93). As
for sources, we simply ignored your repeated feeble attempts at
confusing the matter by demanding we (as usual) reveal our sources of
information at the Commission and elsewhere. In a nutshell; In late
November, the Falcon030 was NO LONGER CERTIFIED! THEREFORE; NO CLASS
B CERTIFICATION!! Atari did not gain Class B certification for the
Falcon030 until January 8th 1993! And now, that certification may be
in question also. How many times must this 'minor' fact be
illustrated to you before it _finally_ sinks in?????"
===============================
In a nutshell, this statement is full of lies.
Mr. Mariano was never in contact with the FCC. If he was, then he
certainly would have had the certification number. His constant request
for it is proof that he had not contacted the FCC on this matter.
I contacted the FCC labs once again in hopes of finding this mysterious
"head engineer". Nobody had a clue who to transfer me to. I was shuffled
around to 5 differant engineers in hopes of verifying Mr. Mariano's story.
One engineer, named Art Busch, confirmed that what I was saying all along
was true and reputed what Ralph said.
I sent this information to Ralph last week in hopes that he would try to
verify his "facts". You saw the result of this request in this weeks issue
of ST-Reports. Note that he makes no referance at all to Mr. Busch.
Needless to say, I have had enough of this liplashing character
assassination by Mr. Mariano.
On Monday morning, March 1, I once again called the FCC labs. I requested
to talk to the head of the labs (yup, it was that easy) and I was
connected with Mr. Charlie Cobb, the Branch Chief for the FCC Labs. This
is the closest thing to a "head engineer" at the FCC, since Mr. Cobb is in
charge of the entire FCC lab. Since he ran the labs I would get the
correct "facts".
Mr. Cobb informed me that he has never talked to Mr. Mariano, Lloyd
Pulley, or any individual representing ST-Reports, nor has he answered any
questions concerning the Atari Falcon or any other Atari product.
Mr. Cobb pulled the files on the Atari Falcon. He informed me that the
original certification was "modified" by the FCC for Atari. A big
difference! As long as the computer in question was unchanged, the appeal
was a simple matter of proceedure. The original certification was never
canceled, as Mr. Mariano claims. It remained in effect throughout November
and December, and once the appeal process was finished the original
certification was then ammended to show the changes.
On the other hand, if Atari had modified the original computer and then
attempted to "recertify" it, then the original certification would have
been canceled. Since the computer would no longer exist, no certification
would be needed.
This is not a special situation with electronic devices. It is a comman
practice and it happens all the time.
Therefore, Mr. Mariano's source is either grossly uninformed about the
policies at the FCC, or Mr. Mariano concocted the whole story to cover his
past lies. You decide.
At this time I would also like to expose another of Mr. Mariano's upcoming
false rumors.
Mr. Mariano reported a while ago that Atari was being investigated by the
FCC for submitting a "queen", or a specially handled computer, for FCC
certification. The implication is that by doing this, they could ensure
that their computer passed all of the tests.
In an effort to enforce this rumor, Mr. Mariano published the following:
=========
From STR Issue 9.07 February 12
"- Washington, DC FCC DILIGENT OVER "QUEENS"
--------------
In a recent discussion with its field engineers, the commission's
brass made mention of the fact they were highly concerned over the
practice of submitting special versions of hardware or of hardware
receiving certification while the actual units offered for sale were
not exactly the same as those submitted for certification. Its been
decided that "in the field" acquisition and re-inspection of certain
devices, computers and many type 15 devices will be placed under high
priority. A number of incidents in the last 18 months involving
"Queens" and other 'substitution' abuses have made this action
necessary."
================
You will note that Ralph has been careful not to get Atari's name in this
story, but this is exactly the thing that Ralph implied Atari was doing in
a past message posted on one of the services.
Now, while submitting a "queen" for testing is not illegal, it is frowned
upon by the FCC. In order to police this practice, they do random tests of
various products. This is not an indication that the company did anything
wrong! It is a normal procedure performed by the FCC all of the time.
It should also be noted that since the Falcon was not even in production
at the time the computer was submitted it would be pretty hard to send
them a "production line" unit.
After explaining this to me, I informed Mr. Cobb that Mr. Mariano had
reported that the FCC was looking into re-testing the Falcon because they
suspected a "queen" had been submitted.
Mr. Cobb looked into this matter for me. What a surprise! Not one thing
was mentioned in the Atari file about it. Mr. Cobb then contacted a field
investigator to see if they knew anything about Ralph's claims, and they
stated they were not investigating Atari at all!
What we have here is yet another example of Mr. Mariano creating a false
rumor, then hiding behind his sources.
Finally, while it's against Mr. Mariano's policy to list his sources, I am
not afraid to do so. If anyone wishes to verify any of these comments
please do so. I request that you post your findings on a public message
source for all to see, since I'm sure Mr. Mariano will not believe a word
I have said here. Matter of fact, I can expect yet another tounge lashing
in his next issue.
Mr. Charlie Cobbs can be reached at 301-725-1585, extension #204. Mr. Art
Busch can be reached at the 301-257-3217. There are four other engineers
who will be happy to field your questions. I'm sorry that I didn't write
their names down but you can reach them on extensions 211, 214, 229 and
230.
Mr. Mariano can supply you with Daves phone number since I have since lost
it, and the messages have been deleted off the bbs.
Other helpfull sources are the FCC Technical Standards Division, and the
FCC's Public Information service. You don't need the number, the FCC Lab
can transfer you. Be sure to refer to the following certification number :
EBAF030FT. This number was later changed on the new certification
certificate to include the letters "ST" at the end, so whoever you talk to
be sure to mention it if they can't find the file.
Conclusion...
Mr. Mariano. You have taken me to task. I have done your work for you. How
many more reliable sources must I present in order for you to stop your
lies! I must now insist that you either present evidence that what you
have been saying is true. If you can not do this, I demand that you issue
an appology to Mr. Brodie, the readers of ST-Reports, and to myself for
your recent defamatory comments against me. I believe that I have done
everything possible to help you report this story accurately, and you have
done nothing but call me names, threaten to have my bbs expelled from your
Crossnet conferences, and assult my character publicly in the pages of
ST-Reports.
It's now up to you Mr. Mariano, get off the pot!
IN REPLY.......
Jerry,
After reading your reply, I am so embarrassed for you. For ultimately
you have proven nothing except that you take some kind of warped pleasure
in taking STReport to task. As a result of your latest effort, I took the
time and trouble to re-contact my sources of information at the FCC and
while I spoke to them I asked permission to reveal them in STReport for
verification purposes. The following is exactly what transpired.
On Wednesday morning (03/03/93) of this week, I once again, called
Arlan K. Van Dorn, Deputy Chief, Field Operations at the FCC in Washington
D.C. because of your outrageous accusations placed in public this past
week. The results of the conversation are presented herein along with the
results of other conversations with another representative of the FCC in
Laurel, MD.
During my conversation with Mr. Van Dorn, I read your missive to him
in its entirety. Needless to say he was not amused at all at your
accusations and claims. I also read the entire report detailed by us in
STR902. Mr. Van Dorn first concluded that our entire presentation was
factually accurate. He then researched the FCC listings for an "Art
Busch" at 301-257-3217, firstly the area code was incorrect and has been
for some time, secondly there is a Donovan family listed for that number
and that's who answers. (not even remotely associated with the FCC)
Lastly, there is _no_ Art Busch listed at all with the FCC either in
Washington D.C. or Laurel Md. We then discussed the matter of queens
again. I then read the piece about queens we placed in STR Confidential
and he stated it was factually correct. Mr. Van Dorn then referred me to
Mr. Charlie Cobbs at 301-725-1585 X204.
As our conversation progressed, Mr. Van Dorn stated quite clearly that
as far as he was concerned everything we have ever presented concerning
the FCC had always been meticulously accurate and above reproach. He also
stated that in his experience he has seen such things occur in the past,
they are usually done by those trying to protect something or other. Its
quite common, he added. As for myself, I was rather surprised to find
that STReport was outrightly accused of "lying" when in fact, we reported
the entire scenario exactly as it happened. I then thanked Mr. Van Dorn
for his time, assistance and information.
I then called Laurel Md. to speak to Mr. Cobbs. His line was on the
voice mail system, I left a message. Mr. Cobbs returned my call later
that afternoon. After the usual greetings... I asked Mr. Cobbs if he
could possibly recall our telephone conversation that took place on the
afternoon of January 8th. (the actual day Atari received Class B
certification for the Falcon030) To which he replied; "I speak to an
average of one hundred people a day here its difficult at best to recall
one or two conversations." However, when I reminded Mr. Cobbs of the
"patch call" from Mr. Van Dorn, he immediately remembered the specific
conversation. I thanked him and asked if it would be ok to read Cross'
reply to our article as Cross was accusing us of "lying". He said please
do.
After I read the article to him he agreed that our representation of
what occurred (which Cross included above in various excerpts) and how it
went down was indeed very accurate. I then went on to ask him if he
recalled his conversation with me relative to "QUEENS" and he said "yes,
he did." Additionally, Mr. Van Dorn and myself had discussed submission
of queens to the commission and I had, in my conversation of January 8th
with Mr. Cobbs, brought the subject up. Mr Cobbs and Mr. Van Dorn again
agreed that my information relative to "Queens" and the presentation of
same was accurate. I might add that nowhere, was any company name
mentioned. I do know that machines offered for sale to the public in the
USA are purchased by the FCC for retesting and comparison to the machines
originally submitted for certification. I know no "Dave" as you say and
have no inclination to start any rumors. The facts were presented and
only the facts. Sometimes they are quite hard to handle and people tend
overreact.
In closing, its again a sad day when hysterical accusation and
innuendo permeates a particularly touchy topic as it tends to cloud the
issues severely. The bottom line is, perhaps there was some type of
miscommunication or misunderstanding on Mr. Cross' part. As STReport
stands pat on everything we presented relative to the FCC, the
certification of both the Falcon030 and the TT030 and finally the
presentation of the information about the submission of "QUEENS" for FCC
certification.
As editor of STReport I must apologize for appearing to drag this
matter out as the topic re: who, how, why, about the certification of the
Falcon030 is rather menial, the questions raised by Jerry Cross relative
to journalistic integrity are not and as such, it became necessary to re-
contact the FCC and verify everything we presented that was pertinent to
the situation. As a result, STReport has been shown to be accurate. We
now consider the matter closed.
Sources of Verification:
------------------------
Arlan K. Van Dorn, Deputy Chief, Field Operations 1-202-632-7200
Julius Knapp, Acting Chief, FCC Testing Labs, 1-301-725-1585
Charlie Cobbs, Branch Chief, FCC Testing Labs, 1-301-725-1585
