so ive had my tech license for about a year and a half now and mostly been doing 2m stuff, some DMR, joined a local club. but lately ive been hearing people talk about HF and honestly it sounds way more interesting than i expected. like the idea of actually talking to people across the country or whatever without any repeaters or internet linking just sounds really cool to me.

anyway i want to upgrade to general but i dont really know how the exam compares to the tech exam. i remember the tech pool wasnt too bad, took me maybe two weeks of studying with that HamStudy website. is the general pool a lot harder? and is there stuff i actually need to understand or can you just memorize answers the same way? i feel like i remember someone saying the electrical theory gets heavier but im not sure. also what even opens up exactly, like which bands am i allowed on as a general vs what i have now

sorry if this is a dumb question, just trying to figure out if this is like a weekend project or something i need to really buckle down for

not a dumb question at all. general is definitely a step up from tech but its not like some huge wall. the question pool is bigger and yeah the electrical theory does get a bit more into it - things like impedance, some antenna theory, propagation stuff. but honestly if you just use HamStudy or even the ARRL general book you'll be fine. i studied for maybe 3-4 weeks casually, like 20-30 minutes a day while eating lunch, and passed no problem.

the thing i'd say is dont just memorize blindly for all of it. like the band plan questions are worth actually learning because once you're on HF you'll actually need to know where to point your radio. but a lot of the electrical stuff you can get by with pattern recognition if theory isnt your thing. as for what opens up - you get HF access on most of the good chunks of 40m, 20m, 15m, 10m and a few others, which is really where most of the action is. 20m alone will keep you busy for years. just go for it, the exam fee is cheap enough that even if you dont pass first try its not the end of the world

i upgraded last spring after being a tech for like 3 years lol shouldve done it way sooner. the general exam felt about the same difficulty as tech honestly, maybe slightly more math but nothing crazy. i used the gordon west book and just did practice exams until i was consistently hitting like 85% or above and then just went and took it.

hf is a completely different world man. first time i made a contact on 40m with just a wire antenna in my backyard i was kind of amazed it even worked. you'll figure out the band stuff as you go, propagation is kind of its own rabbit hole but thats part of the fun i think