Welcome to the AES Washington DC Section Website.

Two Joint Meetings with SMPTE in October:

(1) National Audio-Visual Conservation Center (NAVCC) Tour

Date: Saturday, October 18, 2008
Time: 11am - 5pm
Location:
Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center:
19053 Mount Pony Road
Culpeper, VA 22701-7551

Program: NAVCC Tour and Presentation

Our October meeting is a rare opportunity to tour the Library of Congress' new National Audio-Visual Conservation Center (NAVCC) in Culpeper, VA. Thanks to the efforts of James Snyder and CEI (Communications Engineering Inc., the NAVCC integrator) we will have access to the facility for tours and technical presentations. Participants may also attend the NAVCC's regular 2pm film, "Lassie Come Home" (MGM, 1943) in the fabulous 1920s movie-palace-inspired theater (separate reservations required). Since this is a full-day meeting, lunch will be provided from 11am to 1pm in the NAVCC's dining area.

The state-of-the-art NAVCC facility houses the entire non-print media collection from the Library's Motion Picture, Broadcasting & Recorded Sound (MBRS) division. The collection includes items from the beginning of film, recorded sound, and video up to the present. The campus includes underground climate-controlled storage facilities for the nearly 6.2 million items in the collection, including blast-proof vaults for nitrate film and cold storage for film, video and audio recordings of virtually every format. You will also see the facilities used to convert the recordings to digital files, including the SAMMA media conversion systems, Pyramix audio conversion systems, and Datacine film telecine. Experts in the design, construction, and operation of this amazing facility will be talking to us and leading the tours

Speakers will include Gregory Lukow, the Chief of MBRS; Steve Nease, the CTO of the NAVCC; and James Snyder, one of the design engineers for the technical plant. For more information on what you will see, click on these links:
www.loc.gov/avconservation/packard/mission.html
mic.loc.gov/navcc_1.htm
broadcastengineering.com/be-excellence-awards/library_congress_national_audio -visual/

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS:
1) RSVP is requested for this event! Please email eric@lab-tech-systems.com by 11 October if you are planning to attend. We hope to accommodate last-minute attendees but this is not guaranteed.
2) Due to the distance involved we are hoping to arrange some ride-sharing for attendees. Please contact eric@lab-tech-systems.com if you may need a ride or are willing to provide transportation for others in your area.
3) Those interested in the 2pm film screening of "Lassie Come Home" must register directly with the theater and may rejoin the SMPTE group afterward. Please go to the following link to check the schedule and reserve:
www.loc.gov/avconservation/mtponytheater/schedule.html

DIRECTIONS & TRAVEL INFO:
Washington to Fredricksburg to Culpeper (I-95)
* Take I-395 South towards Virginia
* I-395 South becomes I-95 South; stay on I-95 South
* Take the VA-3 West exit in Fredricksburg (Exit is just past the I-95 rest stop)
* Take VA-3 West towards Culpeper
* Turn left onto US 522 at traffic light.
* Go 1/8 of a mile to the first left, Mount Pony Road
* Turn left and the facility will be in front of you.
Washington to Gainesville to Culpeper (I-66)
* Take I-66 West to US-29 in Gainesville, Virginia
* Take US-29 South to Culpeper, Virginia
* Take the US-522/VA-3 Exit in Culpeper
* Turn left onto US-522/VA-3
* Turn right on 522 at the traffic light.
* Go 1/8 of a mile to the first left, Mount Pony Road
* Turn left and the facility will be in front of you.
Charlottesville to Culpeper
* Take US-29 North to Culpeper, Virginia
* Take the US-522/VA-3 Exit in Culpeper
* Turn right onto US-522/VA-3
* Turn right on 522 at the traffic light.
* Go 1/8 of a mile to the first left, Mount Pony Road
* Turn left and the facility will be in front of you.

(2) Understanding, Finding and Eliminating Ground Loops and Line-Level Signal Transformer Design

Presented by:

Bill Whitlock, President – Jensen Transformers

Date: Monday, October 20, 2008
Time: 7 PM
Location:
National Public Radio Headquarters
635 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington, DC (not far from the DC convention center)

Bill Whitlock, president of Jensen Transformers (www.jensen-Transformers.com) and an active member in IEEE and AES, is an engineer who has written many papers (see their website) and given excellent presentations on equipment grounding problem diagnosis and solving. He has taught a three-day Syn-Aud-Con workshop and given AES seminars, and is returning to DC to address:
• How hum, noise, and interference couple into the signal path;
• Troubleshooting to precisely locate the problem interface;
• Fixes that do not compromise safety or performance; and
• Why many so-called "cures" don’t deliver what they promise.

I suspect all of us have encountered grounding problems in our professional or personal experience. I have attended two of his CEDIA presentations and reviewed some of his papers; I find his information credible, edifying, and quite useful.

In addition, he will discuss line-level signal transformer-core design and materials tradeoffs, line-input vs line-output transformer design, etc.

Hearing him speak is well worthwhile. See you there.

Limited parking is available in NPR’s garage. To take advantage of this, please RSVP to DC_Section @ AES.org