WE old tube question

[filippo22]

Hi guys
a friend have a little trouble with a WE tube mounted on an old radio.
The tube is marked WE13 but I never found data on the web. Another friend have a similar tube named WE23 but seems different. Can anyone help us to find information about this old vacuum lamp?

thanx a lot
ciao
Filippo
www.audiofanatic.it

 

[bournville]

That's a rare one - a side contact tube!

It's a combined triode-pentode, indirectly heated with a 6.3v heater at 1A. I assume it was designed to be a frequency changer for AM bands. Pin connections are:

1 = grid 1
2 = grid triode
3 = cathode (both triode + pentode) and grid 3
4 = heater
5 = heater
6 = no connection
7 = anode triode
8 = grid 2
Top cap (or side cap) = anode pentode

I don't know the situation in Italy but in the UK such a tube is virtually unobtainable, so if your friend needs to replace it in his old radio he might have to drill the base out and adapt a 6K8 in its place. I don't have any info for a WE23 though...

 

[bournville]

On further investigation the WE13 was not designed to be used as a frequency changer, but as as an audio driver and output tube - the anode current of the pentode is 36ma at 250v. Very unusual for a side contact tube to have this configuration - you learn something new every day!

Seasonal Greetings!

 

[filippo22]

Thanks 10000
we try with a 6K8, but it's an hexode-triode, maybe also a simple 6AN8 will be good....

thanx again
Filippo
www.audiofanatic.it

 

[filippo22]

mmmmm.... 36mA @ 250V? the 6AN8 isn't good... maybe an ECL82-85-86...

ciao
Filippo
www.audiofanatic.it

 

[bournville]

Information about the WE13 is sparse (I'm checking in Babani's Radio Tube Encyclopedia of 1949!) but the characteristics of the pentode section are:

Va = 250v
Ia = 36ma
Vg2 = 250v
Ig2 = 4ma
Rk = 150 ohms
Anode imp = 7000 ohms
Power out = 4.5w

Hopefully this will help you get a good match.

 

[filippo22]

ok, dissipation and load are close to the ECL86

thanks, have a good 2004!
Filippo
www.audiofanatic.it