A plasma globe works much better. I've never tried a CRT, and all my current TVs and monitors are LCD. A few months ago, I wanted to check a tube at a friend's house, but his plasma ball was broken. I decided to make my own:
![](https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/F-MevHJ-hqU5OGJtHVxfN77AWczIkfNWOSifZRizbwZXNDk3kjXh4uw47Xn3xZlAatu-oeIO6jCiLf5vlrObEc5NjOGbSbS-Kwyp1ov2nHDmamBmWCaTP9g5duS9SaX_lEvn3w=s0-d-e1-ft#https://threeneurons.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/plasma_gen_schs1.jpg?w=500&h=400)
![](https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/IydyVTXvZTShx5le4AVqTfsRRstwrHkgU1ETi0igo63SPE4oyU-8R7ErkibJ4rUqv_8SvJ1otdCoTVKV3zeeupSPqbJtkmUvreIBpJLJl2-tS0_1t62M7VH9j7sSRLIB=s0-d-e1-ft#https://threeneurons.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/plasma_gen01.jpg?w=500&h=625)
That's an old Raytheon BH rectifier, that makes my ball. The tube near it, is 6802 dekatron, which works quite well, but has a cracked bakelite base.