HISTORY OF THE SUPER SENIOR AND BRUCE FRANKLIN

WA3VJB said (in QRZ forum):

I want to take the time to round out what's known about Bruce, K7DYY and his contribution to the AM Community.

(among earlier posts you may have seen that Bruce Franklin passed away in late February at the age of 79.)

Back in late August, 2024, Bruce suffered a stroke, and while he was hospitalized he underwent procedures to remove an aortic clot and install a stent. He spent the next few months recovering his ability to speak; was in physical therapy, and urged people to "be patient" as he regained stamina.

By late 2024 he was back to responding to requests for repairs and upgrades by inviting owners of the Super Senior to send in their transmitters. That's the kind of conscientious, customer-oriented person I had always found him to be. He had said at the time that he planned to continue manufacturing the Super Senior "for the foreseeable future." He considered both models a "mature product" as he moved on to other development interests, including his 2022 AM Modulation Monitor kit.

Bruce, however, did not spend much time talking about himself; did not want much attention paid to his achievements, and held certain information close to the vest about the Super Senior. So I don't know much about Bruce, the man, and have only gotten tantalizing tidbits about the Super Senior transmitter beyond what he chose to publish on his website, www.k7dyy.com.

The transmitter is the result of a series of projects Bruce developed, and is probably his most successful. I don't know how many were produced. Bruce told me he did not want to give anything away to prospective competitors by disclosing production numbers, even though he seemed to have the market all to himself at the ten-year mark.

In the years since the Super Senior came to market, we saw his transmitter take a premier place in our licensed radio hobby as the only purpose-built, solid state, high power, frequency agile, multiband AM transmitter in modern times. The substantial design also spawned a continuous-duty version that Bruce marketed for regional shortwave broadcasting.

About that version, "most of the sales have been to Germany with a few units to Denmark and the Netherlands," Bruce told me in 2023 correspondence, "That design is essentially the same as the amateur version of the Super Senior but is derated to 250 watts carrier in continuous commercial service, " he said.

We know of at least one example of his 49 meter version that has recently been on the air in Scandinavia. Longtime AMer Paul, W2JTD in 2024 spotted a photograph of it in an online page devoted to shortwave listening. When I contacted the station, Norway's Radio Northern Star, I eventually heard back from Chief Engineer Svenn Martinsen. "We’ve been flooded with reports since we put our new SW Super Senior tx on the air on December 23rd." He later sent along a photo, below.

The front panel is marked 49m/25m, but Martinsen has said the unit is monoband from 5.8 to 6.2Mc. It does not have provisions for PTT or a receiver antenna relay. The antenna connection would be a Type N, and the audio is broadcast-standard 600 ohm balanced line level input. Perhaps Bruce used the same panel for transmitters ordered for each band.

Another customer for Bruce's transmitters has been the U.S. Department of Defense. He recalled that "some years ago I did a special order of several 49 meter portable transmitters for use by Army psyops in Afghanistan. He wrote that "they were small 100 watt AM transmitters designed to be set up in the field and operated from a small generator."

I could not learn more details, including where today any of those units may be. I was unable to obtain any marketing materials such as photos or brochures Bruce may have used with either the military version or the version sold to regional shortwave broadcasters. I also found nothing in a search of publicly available procurement databases for the federal government.

The ARRL was one of the more prominent Amateur customers for the Super Senior. Past ARRL CEO Tom Gallagher, NY2RF had made it part of his executive mandate to build out the AM infrastructure at the League's flagship station, W1AW, and to include AM as part of League activities and operating events.

Responding to that opening, Bruce was willing to build a Super Senior and offer it to W1AW at cost. The response to Gallagher from the AM community also included an offer of a new audio processor, the famous Orban Optimod 9300, thanks to the generosity of company executive Mike, W9CN at Orban/DaySequerra. There were plans to pair it with Bruce's transmitter for the W1AW "AM Outlet" on 7290, where weeknight voice bulletins continue to be broadcast on this mode.

(AM is routinely found at the top of 40 meters from approximately 7270 on up, and the ARRL, in selecting AM for its voice bulletins on 7290, supports the frequency as one of the places to anticipate our mode and activity)

Meantime, supporting Gallagher's mandate, the group's magazine, QST, and personnel at the ARRL Lab, moved ahead writing and publishing a Product Review of the Super Senior. The 2007 article was the first AM transmitter ever featured in this Technical Product Review series, according to co-author Bob, WB1GCM, who has since retired as Asst. Lab Manager. He and the late author Joel Hallas, W1ZR, took delivery on a Model 8040 that Bruce constructed and sold at full retail price, as part of the League's publishing budget. An aircheck recording exists of their on-air tests which were part of preparation for the article.

Bruce has left us quite a contribution to the hobby, remarkable for a "one-man band," who supposedly was retired from a primary career. When I asked him to elaborate, he did not address what he used to do for a living, but did describe designing, making and selling the "Index Labs QRP transceiver" in the 1990s. I think he now would appreciate, for the record, his own words describing his chronology on the way to the Super Senior:

"I started working on high efficiency RF amplifier design around 2006. The first effort was a kit called the K7DYY Junior which I sold primarily to the AM group here in the Pacific Northwest. It was a crystal controlled 80 meter 100watt class E transmitter. This was a good way for me to get real field experience with the technology and was a fun project for regional AM group.

The next amateur product was the K7DYY Senior which was also 80 meters only with 6 user selectable fixed frequencies. It ran about twice the power of the Junior. This was sold as a completed unit rather than a kit. At about the same time I introduced a commercial version for the 49 meter shortwave broadcast band that was sold primarily to European customers and an RF generator for use with plasma chambers.

Around 2012 I introduced the Super Senior as a 160/80 meter higher power transmitter. The Super Senior has been in continuous production since that time. Around 2015 I added an 80/40 meter version of the Super Senior."

Rest in Peace, Bruce. It was good knowing you, having you there for technical support, and being someone we could point to who did so much for the AM community.

Paul/WA3VJB 18 Mar 2026