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Insulator Collectors' PagesI was born in 1940 and have been interested in most things electronic as long as I can remember. I have been an active radio amateur (K9EUI) since 1956 and belong to the Fox River Radio League, the oldest radio club in Illinois (celebrating its 75th anniversary this year). I mainly operate radioteletype and still use vintage Teletype equipment.
I graduated from Valparaiso Technical Institute in 1960 and began work in broadcasting. I have been involved in engineering in both AM and FM stations. Later, I went to work at AT&T (Western Electric) as a test set designer for testing modems and cellular and cordless phones during manufacture. After 19 years there, I was laid off and have been working for the past 11 years at Aurora University in the IS dept. where I take care of the PC's and the PBX and all cabling.
Speaking of Valparaiso, VTI was the descendant of the Dodge Radio Institute that taught the code to would-be telegraphers. The original Dodge building is still there.
I started collecting insulators about 2 years ago although they have fascinated me for years. If only I had started in my youth when they abandoned many rail lines here in the Fox Valley area near Aurora. These abandoned lines now serve as terrific bike trails and many are even paved. The scenery is quite nice as many of these trails are along the banks of the Fox River.
I have mostly obtained my insulators from various antique malls while traveling on vacation. My collection is about as varied as they get and has pretty much just the garden varieties. I haven't specialized in anything yet. The smallest I have is a CD-100 Surge and the largest is a Hemingray CD-303. My favorite so far is a 7-up green Hemingray CD-122.
My collecting interests are many and varied. I also collect:
I am also into audio and enjoy designing speaker systems.
I can be reached at:
Bob Roehrig
314 S. Harrison Street
Batavia, IL 60510
Written by Bob Roehrig,
Last updated Friday, October 22, 1999