I think what's missing is a middle ground. I think that what frustrates people most are the following issues:
1. Classifying their product (i.e. trying to find the right standard) 2. Having to buy the whole standard, when they may just need to answer a specific question. 3. Having to buy the whole standard and then having to bear the responsibility of making sure that their standards "library" stays up to date. 4. The clarity of standards. I paid $800 for a copy of IEC 1010-1 with amendments a few years ago. The standard came to me as the original document with amendments shipped separately, I had to spend about eight hours cutting and pasting the amendments in. The next time we pay $800 for a standard, it had better come complete. I think that the price of standards would be less of an issue if people got more help determining what standard applies and if people had a way to access standards on a pay-as-you go basis. That way, they would only get and pay for the information that they need; and it would be up to date. My humble opinion, and not necessarily my employer's. Chris Maxwell From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dward ATCB Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 4:28 PM To: 'Derek Walton'; 'Anchondo, Dan' Cc: [email protected] Subject: RE: Making Standards Free These are all interesting points of view, but I think a point is being missed. IF we remember back to the mid 80'2 to late 90's you remember that the FCC did not have a reliable tes methodology for part 15 devices. Their MP's were free, but did not cover a standardized uniform test method (i.e. maximized cables, running cables along side monitors and any other peripheral that might generate noise to get a maximized reading). By allowing an industry produced standardized test methodology (ANSI C63.4) the FCC took a giant leap to uniform and consistent test data. Granted, we can all still make a more worse case by tweaking each individual cable and device, but uniformity in the industry is, in my opinion, more important. So - what do we want? Do we want to pay for a few standards and test methods, or d we want to go back to the days of infinite cable adjustments only to find the FCC, VDE or other acronym has other ways to fail a device. Consequently, while it may be 'expensive' to purchase a few standards, it is still much much much less expensive than spending uncounted days on an test site to find the 'worse case'. Dennis Ward Evaluation Engineer American TCB Certification Resource for the Wireless Industry www.atcb.com 703-847-4700 fax 703-847-6888 direct - 703-880-4841 cell - 209-769-8316 NOTICE: This E-Mail message and any attachment may contain privileged or company proprietary information. If you received this message in error, please return to the sender. From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Derek Walton Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 10:30 AM To: Anchondo, Dan Cc: [email protected] Subject: RE: Making Standards Free Hmm.. not a good analogy. If you are legally obligated to meet a requirement e.g. FCC, CE, then it is reasonable to assume the requirements you have to meet are free. So in the USA, the FCC REQUIREMENTS are free. CFR 47 is on the web. The technical path describing how to do it is not: ANSI C63.4 The desparity is in the EU, where I believe that you pay for both. While the EMC Directive is free ( and worth every penny ), product standards defining REQUIREMENTS are not. The technical path on how to demonstrate compliance e.g. EN 61000-* also costs money. Therefore, I would propose that we DON't pay for requirements, but as a compromise, we pay for methodology. Thoughts? Derek Walton PS, MIL STD 461 is still one of the best EMC documents around, and it's free... Anchondo, Dan wrote on 1/10/2006, 11:50 AM: > All > I would like a standard to be free but as with any other profession you > have to pay for your tools. Ill be shopping for antennas and spectrum > analyzers in the near future and I don't expect to get them for free so > standards are just another cost of doing business. > Regards > Dan Anchondo > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John > Woodgate > Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 8:08 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Making Standards Free > > In message > <[email protected]>, dated > Tue, 10 Jan 2006, Scott Drysdale <[email protected]> writes > >I agree with Ed. The concept that a 'rule' depends on, references, or > >is copyrighted material is debatable. In a legal sense, the copyright > >holder can have too much control over the distribution of their > >intellectual property. > > Yes, and in the past that has happened. I think the trend to 'open > government' and 'freedom of information' makes it less likely to happen > in the future. All national and international standards are, of course, > available for purchase, and I know of no case where a standard is > 'priced beyond reach'. > -- > OOO - Own Opinions Only. Try www.jmwa.demon.co.uk and www.isce.org.uk > 2006 is YMMVI- Your mileage may vary immoderately. > > John Woodgate > > - > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society > emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ > > To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to [email protected] > > Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html > > List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html > > For help, send mail to the list administrators: > > Scott Douglas [email protected] > Mike Cantwell [email protected] > > For policy questions, send mail to: > > Jim Bacher: [email protected] > David Heald: [email protected] > > All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: > > http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc > > - > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society > emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ > > To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to [email protected] > > Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html > > List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html > > For help, send mail to the list administrators: > > Scott Douglas [email protected] > Mike Cantwell [email protected] > > For policy questions, send mail to: > > Jim Bacher: [email protected] > David Heald: [email protected] > > All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: > > http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc > -- Cheers, Derek Walton L F Research Poplar Grove, IL 61065, USA - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to [email protected] Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas [email protected] Mike Cantwell [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: [email protected] David Heald: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to [email protected] Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas [email protected] Mike Cantwell [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: [email protected] David Heald: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to [email protected] Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas [email protected] Mike Cantwell [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: [email protected] David Heald: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc
