[RFI] Fraudulent FCC RFI Certification

[CR]

When I retired from the Army and went to work at Wang in 1983, it was in 
their TEMPEST audit lab, but we did FCC audits, too.   One new product 
-- we called it the Fredwriter -- was quite obviously above the Part 15 
limits, and after I reported this, it was only a few weeks later that I 
got an angry call from a factory manager in China:

"How come you close down my factory!?"

I tried to tell him all I did was measure things, but I got the ball 
rolling to find out what had actually happened.  The case was upper and 
lower clamshells coated with copper bearing paint and snapped together, 
then secured with screws. The Chinese factory had some problems getting 
the halves to latch, so the factory manager talked to his buddy at the 
plastics factory and got cases made MINUS beveled interior features 
where the copper made contact, top to bottom...

Something a bit like this -- likely unintentional and unasked for -- 
seems to have happened to a different firm where I worked later, when a 
fairly recent (this century) FCC Enforcement bulletin reported that one 
of its wireless remote controls was exceeding Part 15 radiated power 
limits. Interestingly enough, I had,  back in the day, devised a 
modification there, a piece of copper tape inside the case, to REDUCE 
the radiated power from a similar item my then-employer was importing.

Scenario: Some guys in an Asian factory...

First guy: "Hmm. What's this doing? Let's leave it off."
Second guy: "Hey! It works better, too!"
Production line supe: "Ship it!"

Anyone doing FCC audits?  Heh.

Cortland Richmond