so ive been a tech for about 8 months now and honestly i mostly just mess around on 2m and the local repeaters but ive been reading about HF and it sounds really interesting. a guy at my club keeps talking about working dx and i kind of want to get into that but obviously i need the general ticket first.

my question is i guess how hard is the general exam compared to tech? i remember the tech exam wasnt too bad, i used hamstudy for a couple weeks and passed fine. is general a big jump? i looked at some of the question pool and some of the electrical stuff looks a little intimidating, like the stuff about reactance and impedance and i honestly dont remember much from high school physics.

also once i pass, what can i actually do on HF as a general? i know there are some portions of the bands that are still extra class only but i dont know exactly which ones. is there enough room on the general portions to actually have fun or do you end up running into a wall pretty quick

honestly the jump from tech to general isnt as bad as people make it sound. the math stuff looks scary on paper but you dont really need to derive anything, you just need to recognize which formula applies and the question pool kind of gives it away if you study enough. hamstudy is still your friend here, same as before. i think i spent maybe 3 weeks on it, doing like 20-30 practice questions a day and i was passing the practice tests pretty consistently before i went in.

the electrical theory questions are the part people stress about but honestly once you see them enough times you just kind of memorize the patterns. the propagation stuff is actually interesting once it clicks, like understanding why 40m works better at night and 10m opens up during solar max, that stuff starts making sense when you read a little about it outside of just the question pool.

as for HF privileges, general gets you a solid chunk of all the major bands. 40m alone is worth it, you can ragchew across the country most evenings no problem. 20m is where a lot of the dx action happens and yeah there are segments you cant touch til you get extra but there's plenty of room to play around and have a good time. i wouldnt worry about hitting a wall, most people who upgrade to general end up sitting there for years perfectly happy before they even think about extra.

just upgraded myself like 6 weeks ago so pretty fresh on this. the reactance and impedance stuff i just kind of brute forced through memorization tbh, i dont think i actually understand it deeply but i know enough to get the right answer on the test lol. took me maybe 2.5 weeks of studying on and off.

havent had a chance to get on HF yet because im still figuring out my antenna situation, apartment living is rough. but yeah from what everyone tells me 40m is the place to start, might try a random wire out the window or something