With the forum making the switch this morning, I decided to do a modification to the Maverick ET-73 Thermos. Found the link on this forum to the suggested mods and how-to http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/92098/et-73-mod-finished-works-great I have had this ET-73 for over a year and thought that if I screwed it up I got good use out of it for the year and would buy another.
First – did the antenna mod.Followed the directions and it was easy! Found a heavy gauge piece of wire, cut it to 6 ½ inches long, bent the end, stripped it and then filed it slightly flat on the one side so I would get a better connection. Soldered it using the “B” choice (across the 3) as outlined in the linked thread.
I would have taken pics of these steps, but they were EXACTLY like the above mentioned thread pics. Anyways...Once done soldering, I used the solder iron to melt a hole for the antenna, screwed the receiver back together and then used the excess pieces of the casing that came off in the melt to use as “bondo” for the antenna.
Sorry, kinda blurry but you get the idea here. Used the iron and smoothed them all around the hole to seal it up. Trimmed the excess and viola! Sturdy and it works great!!!! Tested it and everywhere in my 2-story house it receives signal.
Now for the transmitter. I lost the little circle lock mechanism one day during a winter smoke, dropped into the snow and never saw it again...so I had been using a piece of tape to hold the battery/on-off cover in place. Pain in the butt! Saw the mod where someone drilled holes to get access, so I tried that too. Drilled my holes just a tad bit smaller than the example, but it seems to work.
Now to address the loose cover and the lack of “water tight” or moisture barrier. With holes in the cover and that it doesn’t stay on, I found a piece of bicycle tire tube and cut a small bit, put it over the cover and sliced an oval to allow me to see the readout on the front. Note: Oval, not square!!! Rounded corners will rip less easily than a square corner. Learned that from my drysuit wrist and neck seals!
Anyways, both mods were a success. I’ll re-do the rubber strap to clean it up a bit and make it prettier, but for now it does the trick!
First – did the antenna mod.Followed the directions and it was easy! Found a heavy gauge piece of wire, cut it to 6 ½ inches long, bent the end, stripped it and then filed it slightly flat on the one side so I would get a better connection. Soldered it using the “B” choice (across the 3) as outlined in the linked thread.
I would have taken pics of these steps, but they were EXACTLY like the above mentioned thread pics. Anyways...Once done soldering, I used the solder iron to melt a hole for the antenna, screwed the receiver back together and then used the excess pieces of the casing that came off in the melt to use as “bondo” for the antenna.
Sorry, kinda blurry but you get the idea here. Used the iron and smoothed them all around the hole to seal it up. Trimmed the excess and viola! Sturdy and it works great!!!! Tested it and everywhere in my 2-story house it receives signal.
Now for the transmitter. I lost the little circle lock mechanism one day during a winter smoke, dropped into the snow and never saw it again...so I had been using a piece of tape to hold the battery/on-off cover in place. Pain in the butt! Saw the mod where someone drilled holes to get access, so I tried that too. Drilled my holes just a tad bit smaller than the example, but it seems to work.
Now to address the loose cover and the lack of “water tight” or moisture barrier. With holes in the cover and that it doesn’t stay on, I found a piece of bicycle tire tube and cut a small bit, put it over the cover and sliced an oval to allow me to see the readout on the front. Note: Oval, not square!!! Rounded corners will rip less easily than a square corner. Learned that from my drysuit wrist and neck seals!
Anyways, both mods were a success. I’ll re-do the rubber strap to clean it up a bit and make it prettier, but for now it does the trick!
