A pulse generator with a voltage rise time of～1.5 ns and voltage amplitude variable from 30 kV to 200 kV was designed for generating runaway electron beams in atmospheric pressure air with different interelectrode gaps.The influence of the voltage amplitude and gap length on the generation was studied.In the gas diode geometry under study,the gap voltage at which the generation of a runaway electron beam begins was determined.Decreasing the voltage pulse amplitude does not increase the beam current pulse width measured with a time resolution of～0.1 ns.It is shown that the escape of beam electrons to the downstream of the foil is sync in time with the voltage drop across the gap,and that the delay of beam current generation increases gradually from 1.1 ns to 2.6 ns as the voltage pulse amplitude across the gap decreases from～100 kV to 40 kV.