i've been looking into making up a dsc setup myself.. also based on
dave ek's box.. u can get the encodes from US Digital as said for $49.. or.. wildcard innovations.. not too sure of the price though.. seems the high res and the low res are the same price $88.26?? but $25 for shipping from sydney seems a little steep
Might have a look around local and see if there's anywhere else to get encoders.
The internal components alone would come up under $100 easy(maybe even under $50 if you've already got ciruit board printing quip and a pic programmer
).. then it'd just be the jiffy box and external cables and stuff.
There's always old palms and stuff going in the com trader or ebay or the trading post.. but I'll probably end up running off my lappy
Only real tricky bit i could forsee is the mounting of the encoders.. but there looks like there's a few good guides out there..
if you're abit handy it'd make a good project to improve some skills, gain some knowledge and learn a great deal of patience!. If you just want a dsc without fustration though.. probably best to go with a kit
el