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From: dclemans@mentor.com (Dave Clemans @ APD x1292)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: RFI, the FCC, and STs (was re: Talking about other computers here)
Message-ID: <1990Dec7.221639.11311@mentor.com>
Date: 7 Dec 90 22:16:39 GMT
References: <479@aupair.cs.athabascau.ca>
Organization: engr
Lines: 28

For the record, the two ST systems I have are both relatively
quiet in a RFI sense; while I've never specifically checked, I've
never noticed any interference on nearby TV's, radio's, etc.

I heard the following from someone who visited Atari headquarters
in California...  (i.e. this is all hearsay)

   As far as RFI containment is concerned, they design their systems
   to match the minimal requirements of the country where it's first
   introduced; typically Germany.  To ship product anywhere where
   standards are stricter they have to "patch" the design.

      However, I've heard that Germany is going to change its RFI
      standards soon so that they are greater than or equal to US
      requirements, so the above problem might go away soon.

   The first and foremost requirement on manufacturing is keeping the
   cost down.  If you get lucky things will be fine.  If there is
   a run of "marginal" parts, boards, etc.  there could be noise
   problems, reliability problems, etc.

   Staffing was described as being lower than you would expect in
   a one product startup company.  They basically can only work on
   one product at once; to get different products out they have to
   work on them in series.  If a particular product never gets enough
   priority to reach the top of the queue, it never gets finished.

dgc