Well I don't know anyone who has build a 4-level slicer from the schematics on that page, so I'm not sure how they would perform. But I do know a freind who has bought the 4-level slicer from Texas 2 Way, and have ran it myself. It performs rather poorly as a 2-level slicer. I constantly had problem with it trying to run trunker and other programs that require a slicer. What it would do with all programs, (but I'll use trunker as an example) is that it would start decoding almost instantly at HI-QUALITY. But after a few seconds of operation it would stop, then ask me "want cts?". This meant that the CTS signal was there but it lost it. Running slicer on it, it appeared to be operational. Trying other pins, and trying inverted or normal did nothing to resolve the dropout. I figured it might be a com port hardware poblem, but after trying it with other systems it would do the exact same thing. I built a slicer from a schematic provided from a friend, and not only did it work perfectly with no drop outs, but it worked with all my systems. This is when I knew I had a problem with the Texas 2 Way slicer. Maybe my friend got a dud who knows, I know of no other who has had this thing.
The only instance I ever used the 4-level side is trying to decode pager messages. With the 900Mhz pager frequencies up here, it worked ok I guess, but the new digital pagers now on the market are up the 1.9 Ghz and are using CMEA encryption just like cell phones.
That's the only time the 4-level came in use. As well I'm pretty sure pager decoding is illegal in the states, and since the new stuff is out of range on most scanners and is encrypted (at least up here), I recommend to save your money and just build a 2- level slicer.
Regards,
Richster.
