Maverick et-73 mod


 
I'm pleased to report my attempt at this mod went well.

Took the white strand out of 14 gauge household electrical wire and cut it to 164.5 millimeters (.54 inches converted to millimeters).

Removed a little bit of the wire casing off the connection end. Because 14 gauge is too big for the hole I then made a small nipple just small enough to be gently forced into the antenna wire hole on the tip of the exposed end of wire using the flat spot in a pair of small pliers.

I fit the nipple snugly in the hole to test before soldering.

To test I put the food probe in a cup of hot water with an ice cube in the usual transmitter location.

It worked everywhere in the house (previously did not) including the basement and the second level and I easily got over 100' from the smoker outside, through the house and the garage.

To assemble I bent the wire at 90º close to the nipple and ran the wire parallel to the top. Then bent the wire at 90º again to run the wire out the top (when facing the receiver front the antenna comes out of the case on the left, just to the right of the case screw molding).

Drilled a hole in the top just slightly smaller than the wire in casing and ran the wire out through the hole in the top.

Reassembled and retested with the same results.

I didn't solder the wire into the hole ... if it pops out and it needs to be done I will get someone who works with electronics to do it ... I don't have a proper soldering iron.

It looks cool, like a walkie talkie. Now I just need a little rubber tip for the top of the antenna and I'm all set!

Thanks for the idea and the tech info guys!

BTW: when I first tried to take my receiver apart, that blue thingy (resistor?) below the antenna hole was firmly stuck in the glue on the back of the case. I gently pried just enough to see what was going on then freed the blue thing from the glue with an Exacto knife. I was lucky I didn't damage it. Be careful if you try to open yours and it doesn't want to come apart.
 
Shawn.

I'm not positve, but I think it is 18g. solid. The smaller piece is 28g.solid. The joint between the two fits nicely under the board and a small "V" cut in the cases holds it securely.

Al
 
I called Maverick and spoke to Darren on the missing Ant issue.
He was very interested and will check out all our posts here in the forum.
 
Here's a photo of my latest modification. I've still got some bugs to work out.
icon_smile.gif




et-732.jpg
 
Phil,
Awesome Mod! So maybe the rest of us don't need our receivers anymore, yours should be able to pick up all of our readings.

Well this thread has certainly turned for the better, I'm glad we discovered a possible problem with Mavericks production line. Maybe they just ran out of wire and didn't realize it one day. Or "Inspector 37" was doing a little smokin of his own if ya know what I'm talkin about...

Maybe all of us will get free Maverik et-74's when they fix their equipment to work as advertised
icon_smile.gif


Anton
 
After I got my 3'rd unit I called back and they told me my range was as good as it gets. I can't go 30' into my wood frame farmhouse without loosing the signal. If I run my transmitter in my detached garage, sometimes I can't get the signal to penetrate my kitchen window.
icon_frown.gif
 
well at least we may be able to create enough noise here containing the Maverick ET-73 text that search engines may start to pick it up. So make sure and mention the Maverick ET-73 plenty of times in your posts...

Thats the Maverick ET-73 I'm talking about...
 
Very good thread folks!

I too have been very disappointed with the performance of my Maverick ET-73 Probe (there I said it
icon_smile.gif
). I caught this thread a few months ago and it peaked my interest, but I did not want to go into the guts of this thing and mess around until a few more folks had a kick at it (Thanks for being my guinea pigs!).

There have been enough folks here who have found their receivers to be lacking an antenna all together so that could be my issue. Nevertheless, I will be scrubbing in for surgery on my unit very soon. I will let you all know how it goes.
 
The patient is in post-op right now. The exploratory surgery is complete.

Patient was found to be missing an antenna. I would have thought that this would be an essential piece of equipment in a transmitter/receiver tandem - but hey...what do I know?

All I had kicking around was some 24 guage speaker wire so I jury rigged an antenna out of a hunk about 6 inches long and just held it in the hole that was previously lacking an antenna.

I fired both units up and moved the transmitter out to my smoker and moved the receiver inside into my kitchen (approx 20ft away and through a patio glass door and sliding screen - previously a no-go for the unit). I am happy to report that I was getting communication.

Before I could get maybe 15 ft between units, line of site only and no walls or windows between the units. I only had time to try the quick test to my kitchen - but even if that is the best I get it will be a marked improvement over what I had before.

I will be looking to hard-wire something a little more permanent into place before my next smoke and will further test the limits of the unit then. I would be extremely happy if I could get the receiver to work upstairs in my bedroom as this is the main thing keeping me from trying an overnighter.

A couple notes of caution - As Shawn mentioned, I did run into the glue on the blue thing that seemed to make the two halves harder to separate than it should be. I used a razor blade to wedge in between the two halves and slowly pry apart. I can see how it would be very easy to snap the on/off switch if the glue suddenly gave way and you didn't pull the halves straight apart. If you meet resistance, just keep prying the halves apart - they will separate eventually.

24 guage was a bit small - I'm guessing that 22 or 20 should do the trick. What is the best way to solder in the antenna?

I will be e-mailing Maverick to let them know of this problem and to see what they might do to address it. Hopefully it was just a bad lot of units and this wasn't a design oversight (Afterall - some units did come with an antenna right?). I'd say that somebody at the manuf. plant has some splainin' to do!
 
Hi All,

I also spoke with Darren @ Maverick industries yesterday. He said to mention to the folks on the board that if anyone has the "no antenna" problem (limited range)or has broken the switch while fixing the ET-73, to send them back to his attention and they will be replaced with a unit with an antenna. He also said that all the info has been forwarded to the factory .

Al
 
In interesting addition to this mod would be a detachable external antenna, 1/8th inch plug.
The only problem might be that an antenna has to be a certain physical length for a given frequency (1/4 wavelength, 1/2 wavelength, etc) and an electrical length. Plugs, components, and changes to capacitance and impedance effect the electrical length.
I don't know what frequency the Maverick uses, but if for example it operated at 350MHz the 1/4 wavelength would be about 8 inches (8.0228...), adding components such as plugs between the antenna and the unit may change the elictral length. To optimize the physical length you would need an RF Impedance analyser and a "perfect" reflector with which to terminate the antenna.
My ET-73 works fine, so I won't be doing this, but I'm really happy that some of you have, and posted the results here.
icon_smile.gif
 
Phil I know Darren from Maverick read all the posts cause I was on the phone with him after giving him the URL and went thru the list of posts with him live time.
He was very pleased to get the info as he had been pulling hair to figure the problem of range also.

Al Sivermans post also confirms Darren is ready to help anyone with the no Ant Problem ... even those who broke the switch.

I think Maverick is sincere on our issues.
 
Here's the info I got last year when I sent the first one back. I assume it's still valid.

I talked to Darren when I got my second replacement and explained my concerns with the range. Line of sight was around 75' but going indoors caused the receiver to loose the signal. The second unit was better but still limited to the kitchen window. I got a 3'rd unit and it was no better than the second. Darren told me that it was probably something in my house and there was nothing else they could do. I'll try contacting them one more time and see what happens.

Mon, 26 Jul 2004 Mon, 26 Jul 2004
Please return the Receiver back to us at: Maverick Customer Service Attn: Darren Keller 94 Mayfield Avenue Edison, NJ 08837

IMPORTANT! Include a note with your contact information (name, addr. and phone#) and a brief discription of the problem you are having with the unit so Darren knows what to look for.
Thank you very much.

Best Regards,
Sandra Carr
Customer Service

scarr@maverickhousewares.com
800-526-0954
 
I called Darren here

Tel: (732) 417-9666

Darren Keller is now beyond Customer service and you may have to ask for him.

I called pre office hours and got him by chance.

Hope this may help !
 
I just got off the phone with Darren. I think he's a little nervous getting a ton of phone calls and returned units.
icon_smile.gif


My unit (without the dish antenna) is going back today. I'll keep you posted.
 
Originally posted by Morgan Sziraki:
In interesting addition to this mod would be a detachable external antenna, 1/8th inch plug.
The only problem might be that an antenna has to be a certain physical length for a given frequency (1/4 wavelength, 1/2 wavelength, etc) and an electrical length. Plugs, components, and changes to capacitance and impedance effect the electrical length.
I don't know what frequency the Maverick uses, but if for example it operated at 350MHz the 1/4 wavelength would be about 8 inches (8.0228...), adding components such as plugs between the antenna and the unit may change the elictral length. To optimize the physical length you would need an RF Impedance analyser and a "perfect" reflector with which to terminate the antenna.
My ET-73 works fine, so I won't be doing this, but I'm really happy that some of you have, and posted the results here.
icon_smile.gif
Click to expand...

Earlier in the thread, someone calculated the length of wire needed for a 1/4 wave antenna to be .54 feet. There was also speculation about using a longer wire. Since this antenna is connected as if it were a simple "vertical" antenna type (one connection to the antenna wire and the other (internal to the unit) to ground), the length must be an odd multiple of 1/4 wavelength (e.g., 1/4, 3/4, etc.) Using a wire that is 1/2 wave (1.08 ft.) will actually be worse than no antenna since that length of wire will appear as a short circuit to the receiver.

Whew! I guess all of that antenna theory years ago finally paid off!

We now return you to your normal BBQ programming...
icon_smile.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top