
                      ----------------------------------

                      *  F  A  L  C  O  N  *  I  N  F  O

                      ----------------------------------


            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



