GKE-100 (ГКЭ-100) Short Wave Generator Tetrode

ГКЭ-100 (GKE-100) Short Wave Generator Tetrode

This out-of-the-way power vacuum tube was widespread, but relatively rarely used by radio amateurs in theirs home-made transmitters, leastwise I could not find any publication of a practical TX circuit or typical telegraph and AM operation ratings in accessible to me post-1950's HAM radio sources. Perhaps it can be explained by the fact that there was a lot of much more usable tubes of the same power, which became available in those years, but such a lack of information puzzles me anyway.
At the same time, among the pirates, GKE-100 tube was very popular, though not considered as the best way to spend a 1500 Volts plate voltage (in comparison with more powerful GK-71 for example).

CHARACTERISTICS
RF Power Output100 WattsГКЭ-100 (GKE-100)
Maximum Plate Dissipation80 Watts
GKE-100 Tube Pinout
Filament Voltage11 Volts
Filament Current2 Amps.
Plate Voltage1500 Volts
Screen Voltage250 Volts
Initial Plate Current80 mA
Signal Grid Current6.5 mA
Transconductance (Gm)2.5 mA/V
Amplification Factor225
Input Capacitance15 mmfd
Output Capacitance10.5 mmfd
Grid to Plate Capacitance0.05 mmfd
Height220-20 mm
Diameter62-4 mm




According to pre-WWII Soviet standards, ГКЭ-100 means:

  • G (Г) = "generator tube" (Генератор)
  • = "shortwave" (Коротковолновая)
  • E (Э) = "has a screen grid" (Экран)
  • 100 = "100 watts RF power output"

GKE-100 tube has a direct heated carbide-coated cathode and a wicker molybdenum grid. Noticeable fact: back in 1942, when most machinery has been evacuated from Fryazino factory to Uzbekistan, these grids were woven using an old-fashioned wooden loom.

The earliest mention of this tube, likely, can be found in the mid-1930s in connection with the development of Soviet general WWII mobile radio station "РСБ" (RSB, Base Radio Station) (80 Watts, ГУ-4 (GU-4) exciter and ГКЭ-100 (GKE-100) amplifier), the latest GKE-100 I have ever seen made in the late 1960s.


RSB (Dvina) radiostation promo
RSB (Dvina) radiostation promo

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