New Updates For AMX University

 

• Preparing Students for Success: Programmer 1 Exam
• Getting Acquainted With Learn Tracks 2008
• New Name for AMXU Locations/Travel Information
• What Everyone Should Know About Ground Loops

 

Preparing Students for Success:
Programmer 1 Exam Released
AMX University has added a Programmer 1 Exam to the ACE Programmer Certification.  This exam is a pre-requisite to Programmer 2 and must be passed prior to registration. Many students take Programmer 1 months or even years prior to taking Programmer 2; therefore, the Programmer 1 Exam serves as a "retention check" so that students are prepared for success in the Programmer 2 course.

This new requirement will apply if you took Programmer 1 in 2007 or 2008 but have not yet taken Programmer 2. Once you complete and pass the Programmer 1 Written Exam, the LMS system will allow you to register for a Programmer 2 course. 

To find the Programmer 1 Written Exam:

If you have any issues or difficulties with your registration for this exam, please contact TrainingHelp@amx.com. 

 

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Improving Navigation:
Getting Acquainted With Learn Tracks 2008
To improve navigation and make it easier to register for certifications and courses, the new Courses & Registration screen gives you access to both certification Learn Track and courses. The easiest way to register for all courses is to register for the Learn Track or certification that you wish to pursue from the AMXpert 2008 Track. 

This Learn Track includes:

Once you are registered for any Learn Track, you will be able to register and launch our instructor-led  and OnDemand courses. Please contact TrainingHelp@amx.com if you have questions regarding these learn tracks or your registration.

    

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Find Travel & Training Center Information

Do you need a hotel recommendation for your next AMX University class? Just follow these simple steps:

Travel information may include regional airports, shuttle services, hotel recommendations, negotiated rates and amenities. 

 

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How To Avoid and Eliminate Ground Loops

By Gerry Nichols

With the national political season heating up, we hear a lot more press conferences than we usually do. What I notice is the number of these sound systems which have noise related to ground loops. Ground loop noise is the low-frequency hum that is often present in a poorly-prepared system. Ground loops can be present in display systems as well.

How Do Ground Loops Occur?
Ground loops occur when a connection is made between two devices which are connected to electrical power sources with different ground potentials. A very common situation is in hotel ballrooms which have dedicated circuits for each power plug. When we plug an amplifier into one power source and a mixer into another, ground loop “hum” occurs when we connect them with an audio cable.

In displays, the same situation may easily occur, and the “hum” manifests itself as a horizontal bar that moves from bottom to top in the image being displayed.

So How Do We Eliminate Ground Loops?
The best solution is to get all of your devices onto a common ground, with the same ground potential for all equipment. In well-designed, permanent installations, all devices are on the same power source and ground; if you do not do this, you will have noise problems forever.

One thing you should never do is remove the ground pin off of your power cables; this leaves you exposed to an electrical shock hazard. Using the common “ground lift” plug adaptor is potentially dangerous as well. Instead, there are commercially available “ground isolation” devices that do a good job of removing the noise without endangering the users.

Besides being a great multi-format distribution hub, the AMX Endeleo UDM-0102 can also be used to eliminate ground loops as a Balun (balanced to unbalanced) device. Baluns take an analog signal, convert it to a signal that travels over Category 5, 5e or 6, and then reconvert the signal at the far end,thereby eliminating any possibility of a ground loop.

The UDM-0102 can accept up to two VGA, RGB, Composite and S-Video signals, as well as SPDIF and analog audio, and send them to an Endeleo UDM-RX02 Multi-Format Receiver at the display end.

The UDM-RX02 does not need power connections, and all information is sent via a single Category 5 cable. If you would like more information on our Endeleo products, please look at http://www.amx.com/products/categoryEndeleo.asp