so ive had my tech license for about 8 months now and honestly i mostly just use it for local 2m repeater stuff and the occasional APRS thing. but ive been reading about HF and it sounds like thats where all the real action is. a buddy at my club said i should just go for the General now while im still in study mode from the tech exam

problem is i pulled up the question pool and it feels way harder than the technician stuff. like theres a lot about propagation and feed lines and i dont really know where to start. im using hamstudy.org which is what i used before but i feel like im just memorizing answers without understanding anything. is that how most people do it or should i actually try to learn the theory behind it

also whats the deal with HF privileges as a General, like what bands do i actually get access to and is 40m a good starting point? heard someone mention 20m for DX but i dont even have an HF rig yet so maybe im getting ahead of myself

honestly the memorization approach works fine for passing the test, thats basically what most people do. but if you actually want to enjoy HF you'll want to understand at least the propagation basics because otherwise youre just spinning the dial wondering why nobody hears you

for the bands yeah General gets you a solid chunk of 40m, 20m, 15m, 10m and a few others, some with restrictions on the lower end of the sub-bands. 40m is great to start because its pretty forgiving during evening hours and you can usually hear domestic stations pretty easily. 20m is the workhorse band for DX but it can be humbling when the band closes and you have no idea why

i used the Gordon West book alongside hamstudy when i upgraded and it helped me actually connect the dots on some of the theory stuff. not saying you need it but for like 15 bucks it might make things click a little better. good luck at the session, the General test isnt that bad once you spend a couple weeks with the material

same boat as you like six months ago lol. i just drilled hamstudy until i was consistently hitting 85% or above and then went and took the test. passed no problem. the feed line and impedance questions look scary but theres really only like a handful of them and once you see the pattern in the answers it clicks

40m was the first band i got on after upgrading, borrowed a friends dipole and just listened for a few days before i even tried transmitting. that actually helped a lot tbh