Glass Radio Strain Insulators

Radio strain insulators are used to insulate either end of a wire antenna from the tower or other mounting hardware. The smaller styles were frequently used by HAM radio hobbyists for back yard antenna installations. There is a tremendous variety of these available and there are collectors that specialize in these styles.

Here is a nice selection of smaller styles that shows the variety of nice colors in which they can be found. The majority of these, however, are clear glass

Some additional examples of the smaller versions. The one in the left is blackglass and the on on the right is a great opalescent similar to Fry glass.

Here are some larger styles. The two outer strains are made by Corning Pyrex glass. Corning made a good number of radio strains.

These two radio strains are quite large at 12 inches long. Both were made by Corning of Pyrex glass. It is assumed that most of these larger styles were used in commercial or military radio applications.

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