so ive been a tech for about 8 months now and i mostly just do 2m and 70cm stuff, some APRS, talked on a few repeaters. but ive been reading about HF and honestly it sounds way more interesting than i expected when i first got my license. a buddy at the club keeps telling me to just go for general already and stop messing around on VHF.

my question is how hard is the general exam compared to tech. like i remember the tech exam being pretty straightforward but i heard the general has more math and electrical stuff in it. im okay with math but im not an engineer or anything. also how long did people study before taking it, i dont want to spend months on this if i dont have to. are there any good free resources or do i need to buy a book

honestly the general exam isnt that bad if you put a couple weeks into it. the math sections look scarier than they are — most of it is ohms law stuff and some basic decibel calculations and theres really only a handful of those questions on the actual pool. i used HamStudy.org and just drilled questions every day for like two weeks during my lunch break and passed no problem. the regulations section trips some people up more than the technical stuff in my opinion.

the HF privileges are totally worth it by the way. first time i made a contact on 40m after upgrading it was like a completely different hobby. good luck with it

just took mine last month, was a tech for almost two years. i used the Gordon West book and also did the HamStudy flashcards. took me maybe 3 weeks of casual studying. the propogation questions got me a little confused at first but once you understand basically why HF works the way it does it clicks. passed with an 87 i think.