PnCconf and Mesa 7i33

doh. yes, I stated backwards.
you are correct.
It's 170 rpm/volt.
(just checked to be sure....)
thanks for the sanity check.

What do the encoder's A and B signals look like in Halscope (at lower speeds where Halscope can actually read them)? Hal scope should be able to view those inputs as gpio at speeds where the pulses are less than 1kHz.  I've seen some problems with encoder signal integrity when the drive is loaded, but clean when the drive isn't working. (But that wasn't with Mesa hardware or differential encoder signals.) 

This does sound like an encoder configuration/wiring issue.

right now the A channel looks pretty good. B looks sporadic. I will be checking soon. just had some minor work on my knee, so i'm moving pretty slowly....
I'm going to be using double shielded wiring. each twisted pair shielded, and an overall shield,
Also looking into ferrites. Do you know anything about them? especially for encoder lines......