General Class Upgrade Guide

A Technician license lets you listen to the HF bands. A General license lets you join the conversation.

General Class Upgrade Guide is the bridge between the two: not a memorized question pool, but a complete course that builds real understanding of the electrical theory, propagation, and antennas behind every General class privilege.
Inside, you'll:

• Rebuild your electrical foundations from the ground up, with reactance, resonance, decibels, and RF measurement explained in plain language and no prior electronics background assumed
• Understand exactly how a signal leaves your antenna, bounces off the ionosphere, and lands on another continent, and why some bands come alive after dark while others go quiet
• Design and build real HF antennas with confidence, from dipoles and verticals to Yagis, along with the feed lines and matching networks that connect them to your rig
• Work through real formulas and calculations — dipole lengths, SWR, decibel math — using the same reasoning you'll actually reach for at the workbench or in the field
• Navigate FCC Part 97 rules, band plans, and RF safety requirements, including the expanded 60-meter privileges that took effect in February 2026
• Move beyond passing a test into real on-air skill, with chapters on HF operating procedure, DXing, contesting, and emergency communication

This isn't a repackaged question pool with the right answers underlined. Twenty-four chapters, organized into six thematic parts with worked examples and chapter summaries throughout, teach the actual subject the General class exam draws from, so the understanding you gain outlasts the test by years. Every regulatory detail was researched and verified current as of publication.

If you're ready to trade CW-only slivers for the entire HF spectrum, pick up General Class Upgrade Guide and start building the understanding that makes those new privileges genuinely useful.