so ive been a tech for about two years now and mostly just been doing 2m/70cm stuff, some APRS, helped out with a few local nets. but ive been reading about HF and honestly it sounds way more interesting than i expected. i keep hearing people talk about making contacts across the country or even overseas and im starting to feel like im missing out.

anyway i started looking at the general class question pool and honestly it kind of intimidated me at first. theres a lot of stuff about propagation and feed lines and electrical theory that i dont really remember from the tech exam. like some of the math questions look rough. how long did it take you guys to feel ready for it? i dont want to fail in front of everyone at a session lol. also is there one study resource that people actually use or does it not really matter which one you pick

honestly dont stress about it too much. the general exam isnt that bad if you already passed your tech, youve seen a lot of the format before. i used hamstudy.org and just drilled questions every day for maybe 3 weeks, like 20-30 minutes while eating lunch or whatever. the math stuff looks scary but theres really only a handful of actual calculation questions and if you understand the concept behind ohms law and a little about decibels you can usually work through them. the propagation section was actually interesting to me once i started reading about it, like why 40m works great at night and 10m can be dead for months then suddenly open up. give yourself 4-6 weeks of casual studying and you should be fine. the hardest part for most people is just committing to actually sitting down and doing it

i passed mine last spring after being a tech for like 3 years, kept putting it off. what finally clicked for me was just getting the ARRL general handbook and reading the sections i was confused about rather than just memorizing Q&A. the pool questions make a lot more sense when you understand why the answer is what it is. also just so you know, once you pass you can start on 40m and it is genuinely a different world. first week i had a random contact with someone in Germany just calling CQ late at night, nearly fell out of my chair. totally worth upgrading