i got this old tube to add to my collection and want to know what it is it has no markings on it at all except H13 on the inside it looks to be early 20s

looks like a uv201

Something like this? I notice that most production brass base GE tubes like 200 201 have the groove around the bottom end. http://www.bill01a.com/tubephotos/ge-uv201shaw.htm

Or this? http://www.bill01a.com/tubephotos/ge-vt16late.htm Probably difficult to tell without marks.

This looks like the CG-1162, not equivalent to 00 or 01a. I had a bunch of these, and it was hard to peddle them because I think they were made for only WWI military applications - an early submarine radio...

Not a CG1162/VT14. This tube has a flat plate. The CG1162/VT14 has a cylindrical plate.

I can positively ID this as an early UV201 made by GE.

While the first (and somewhat later) production UV201 tubes by GE have ceramic inserts in the bottom of the bases, GE recycled a bunch of VT-11 tubes and reused their bases on some UV201 and UV202 tubes. The "tell" is the ring in the material around one of the pins on the bottom of the base and the rectangular indent going towards the base shell. On a VT11, that pin was electrically connected to the base shell, but the connector has been removed here for the re-use of the base. And, of course, this is not a UV202, which has a bigger bulb.

I suppose it is possible for them to have done this with UV200 tubes too, but I have never seen one.

Jim Cross

how much of an issue is the hole in the plate, did this tube fail catastrophically, or is it worn out? I have not tried to heat it up yet

Catastrophic short circuit

can this happen even with no physical connection?

There was an arc between something and the plate.

Arcs can happen with no physical connection.... That's how spark plugs work.

ok thanks, i just wanted it for my display anyway

Wondering: is the filament continuous?