If Your Pc Lacks FCC Certification . . . What Else Is Missing?

Some problems in the personal computer world refuse to go away. One of the most persistent over the years has been Federal Communications Commission certification of PCs.

Before computers - or any number of other small appliances, for that matter - can be sold, they must be approved by the FCC for home or business use.

The reason: The FCC is in charge of keeping the nation's airwaves as unsullied as possible for radio, TV and other wireless communications. PCs put out electromagnetic emissions that interfere with airwave transmission.

As PCs become more powerful and commonplace, they pose greater risks of blocking critical life-or-death communications. Baltimore police documented a case where a single home PC had jammed radio transmissions during an emergency call. In Washington, D.C., a cash register's microprocessor was found to be blocking the signal required to activate a landing beacon at National Airport.

Concern over laptop emissions blocking flight communications led the Federal Aviation Administration to consider banning portable computers from airplanes. But widespread protest from the business community and further investigation quashed the issue, at least for the time being.

The FCC, however, has been goaded into cracking down on personal-computer manufacturers selling noncompliant equipment. The agency announced last spring it would investigate more than 2,000 manufacturers and would levy fines or issue cease-and-desist orders in an attempt to curb illegal production. Only about 40 to 60 percent of PCs are certified, the agency estimates.

Should you as a computer buyer or user be concerned about FCC compliance? From the practical standpoint of getting your work done every day, an FCC sticker will not make much difference.

But from an ethical standpoint, and in terms of placing yourself at risk, FCC compliance is a serious issue indeed.

Businesses using unapproved equipment can face having it seized or otherwise forced out of use, costing them hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment and labor costs. Homeowners may find themselves at risk if their computer interferes with airwave transmissions.

There is also an issue of quality. FCC compliance generally indicates a reliable vendor who can be counted on to put together solid systems. Without lab certification - which, incidentally, costs vendors thousands of dollars to obtain - a computer may have other "cost-cutting features" that undermine its longevity or dependability.

FCC compliance should be noted on the computer's CPU (central processing unit, or "box"). Class A refers to business use, Class B to residential use. The notice generally reads, "This equipment complies with the requirements in Part 15 of FCC rules."

Be careful to ascertain when purchasing that your unit has the correct class approval, and - above all - that the particular configuration of the PC has been certified.

Gary Soulsby, engineer in charge of the FCC's Seattle office, notes that vendors often obtain approval for a desktop configuration but not a floor-standing "tower" or "mini-tower" box.

The components may be the same, but often are moved around for space efficiency. Moving the power supply or motherboard changes the emission factor and can put the PC out of compliance, Soulsby said.

"If a customer wants a computer in a `tower,' it has to be certified for a tower," he said. The only way to be sure is to ask, and then contact the FCC (see below) to double-check.

In the Northwest region it serves, the Seattle office has found 82 percent of randomly surveyed PCs to be approved.

"More are out of compliance than we'd like," Soulsby acknowledged. The local office recently issued notices of apparent liability of $20,000 each (the maximum it can levy due to an agency ceiling) to Bear Computer Systems and ComPro Computers, both in Bellevue, and has several other investigations under way.

As a rule of thumb, newer 80486 systems tend to be less in compliance than older 286 or 386 computers. And the more powerful the chip - a 50 mhz clock, for example - the more at risk of default the system is.

Dealers facing fines are allowed to respond to the action, after which the agency can determine whether to reduce, cancel or enforce the fines. There is also an appeals process.

Even with its new charter, the agency, with just two enforcement specialists and Soulsby, is vastly understaffed to perform comprehensive monitoring. Caveat emptor applies. If customers refuse to buy noncertified equipment, the problem will go away.

In the meantime, individuals wishing to report uncertified equipment or inquire about a particular model should write the FCC at 11410 N.E. 122nd Way, Suite 312, Kirkland 98034. The office's phone number is 821-9037, but it prefers the initial contact of a letter for documentation purposes.

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NEWS BYTES

The graphical-user interface is finally taking its toll on good ol' DOS. First-quarter 1992 software sales were up 98 percent for Windows applications and 51 percent for Macintosh apps but fell 4 percent for DOS (although it remained the biggest money-maker with total sales of $647 million compared with $311 million for Windows and $216 million for the Mac). Figures from the Washington, D.C.-based Software Publishers Association. . . . Tax-prep software is shaking out to a war between Meca, the Tobias Managing Your Money and Tax Cut maker, and ChipSoft, the TurboTax folks. Meca recently announced it would develop for the Macintosh, where ChipSoft reigned unchallenged after buying MacInTax from Softview.

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