General license study guide

Who this guide is for

This guide is for Technician licensees upgrading to General, the license that opens up most of the HF bands. Expect more rules about band segments, HF operating practice, propagation, and electronics math than on the Technician exam.

A simple study plan

1. Take one practice exam first to get a baseline. Start the practice test.
2. Read this guide topic by topic, starting with your lowest-scoring topics.
3. Drill each topic in study mode until you get most questions right, reading every explanation.
4. Take full practice exams until you pass several in a row with room to spare, then book your exam.

Most Technicians need a few weeks of steady study for General, especially for the electronics questions.

General class HF privileges

Source: 47 CFR §97.301(d), §97.303 and §97.305. Mode rules within each segment still apply. Most bands allow up to 1500 W PEP output.

The exam blueprint

Your exam has one question from each of the 35 groups. The number of exam questions per topic is fixed:

G1: Commission’s Rules 5 exam questions · 52 in pool

Key facts to know

• General licensees cannot transmit in the Extra-only segments of 80, 40, 20 and 15 meters. Where they share a phone band, General gets the upper portion.
• 30 meters: CW and data only, 200 W PEP maximum. 60 meters: USB signals no wider than 2.8 kHz, and a gain record if you use an antenna other than a dipole. Most other bands allow up to 1500 W PEP output.
• Beacons: automatically controlled HF beacons only on 28.20 to 28.30 MHz, 100 W PEP maximum, one per band per location. Avoid 14.100, 18.110, 21.150, 24.930 and 28.200 MHz, used by an international beacon network.
• Antennas up to 200 feet (not near an airport) need no FAA notification. PRB-1 requires state and local rules to reasonably accommodate amateur antennas.
• Volunteer Examiners: accredited by a VEC, at least 18 years old, General VEs may give only the Technician exam, and three VEs must observe every session. A CSCE is valid for 365 days; add "AG" to your call sign while your upgrade is pending.
• Spread spectrum is limited to 10 W PEP. North and South America are ITU Region 2. Third-party messages must relate to amateur radio, personal remarks or emergencies.

Official question groups in G1

• G1A: – General class control operator frequency privileges; primary and secondary allocations
• G1B: – Antenna structure limitations; good engineering and good amateur practice; beacon operation; prohibited transmissions; retransmitting radio signals
• G1C: – Transmitter power regulations; data emission standards; 60-meter operation requirements
• G1D: – Volunteer Examiners and Volunteer Examiner Coordinators; temporary identification; element credit; remote operation
• G1E: – Control categories; repeater regulations; third-party rules; ITU regions; automatically controlled digital station

Practice G1 questionsSee all 52 G1 questions

G2: Operating Procedures 5 exam questions · 60 in pool

Key facts to know

• USB is used on 20 meters and above (and VHF/UHF); LSB is customary on 160, 75 and 40 meters. SSB uses less bandwidth and power than AM.
• No station owns a frequency except in emergencies. Ask "QRL?" (or "Is this frequency in use?") before calling. Leave 150 to 500 Hz between CW signals and 2 to 3 kHz between SSB signals.
• To break into a phone contact, say your call sign once. A station in distress gets priority: acknowledge it and find out what is needed.
• Q signals and prosigns: QRS (send slower), QRV (ready to receive), QRN (static), QSL (received and understood), AR (end of message), KN (only the contacted station should reply).
• RACES control operators must hold an FCC amateur license; RACES drills are limited to 1 hour per week. The band plan reserves 50.100 to 50.125 MHz for DX contacts.
• Digital: FT8 uses 15-second cycles and needs computer time accurate to about 1 second (near 14.074 MHz on 20 m). RTTY usually uses 170 Hz shift on LSB. Winlink email uses VARA and PACTOR; PACTOR links only two stations.

Official question groups in G2

• G2A: – Phone operating procedures: USB/LSB conventions, breaking into a contact, transmitter setup for voice operation; answering DX stations
• G2B: – Operating effectively; band plans; drills and emergencies; RACES operation
• G2C: – CW operating procedures and procedural signals; Q signals; full break-in
• G2D: – Volunteer Monitor Program; HF operations
• G2E: – Digital mode operating procedures

Practice G2 questionsSee all 60 G2 questions

G3: Radio Wave Propagation 3 exam questions · 37 in pool

Key facts to know

• More sunspots generally improve propagation on the higher HF bands. The solar flux index measures 10.7 cm solar radiation. The K-index shows short-term, and the A-index long-term, geomagnetic stability.
• Solar flare radiation arrives in about 8 minutes; coronal mass ejection particles take 15 hours to several days. Conditions repeat on a 26- to 28-day cycle as the Sun rotates.
• MUF is the maximum and LUF the lowest usable frequency between two points. Frequencies just below the MUF have the least loss. If the LUF exceeds the MUF, skywave contact is not possible.
• One F2 hop covers up to about 2,500 miles and one E hop about 1,200 miles. The F2 region is the highest, so its skip is longest.
• The D region (the lowest) absorbs signals below 10 MHz in daylight, which is why 160 through 40 meters are best at night.
• NVIS uses high elevation angles for short-range coverage. Scatter signals in the skip zone are weak and fluttery.

Official question groups in G3

• G3A: – Sunspots and solar radiation; geomagnetic field and stability indices
• G3B: – Maximum Usable Frequency; Lowest Usable Frequency; short path and long path propagation; determining propagation conditions; ionospheric refraction
• G3C: – Ionospheric regions; critical angle and frequency; HF scatter; near vertical incidence skywave (NVIS)

Practice G3 questionsSee all 37 G3 questions

G4: Amateur Radio Practices 5 exam questions · 60 in pool

Key facts to know

• Receiver tools: a notch filter removes carriers, a noise blanker cuts gain during impulse noise, an attenuator prevents overload, and dual VFOs allow split operation.
• Tube amplifiers: tune for a dip in plate current, then adjust LOAD for the desired output without exceeding maximum plate current. ALC prevents overdrive; keep ALC inactive on digital modes.
• Test gear: an oscilloscope shows waveforms (including CW keying and RF envelopes); a two-tone test checks linearity; a directional wattmeter measures SWR; an antenna analyzer needs only the antenna and feed line connected.
• RF interference: bypass capacitors and ferrite chokes reduce RFI, bonding enclosures reduces ground loops and RF hot spots, and arcing connections cause broadband noise.
• S meter: one S unit is about 6 dB (4 times the power); 20 dB over S9 is 100 times the power. Keep a 3 kHz SSB signal at least 3 kHz inside the band edge.
• Mobile and solar: connect HF mobile power directly to the battery; short mobile antennas have limited efficiency and bandwidth. A silicon solar cell gives about 0.5 V; use a series diode and a charge controller.

Official question groups in G4

• G4A: – Station configuration and operation
• G4B: – Tests and test equipment
• G4C: – Interference to consumer electronics; grounding and bonding
• G4D: – Speech processors; S meters; sideband operation near band edges
• G4E: – Mobile and portable HF stations; alternative energy source operation

Practice G4 questionsSee all 60 G4 questions

G5: Electrical Principles 3 exam questions · 40 in pool

Key facts to know

• Reactance (X, measured in ohms) is opposition to AC from inductance or capacitance. Inductive reactance rises with frequency; capacitive reactance falls. At resonance they cancel.
• Impedance is voltage divided by current; admittance is its inverse. Transformers, pi-networks and transmission lines can match impedances.
• Power formulas: P = E x I, P = E² / R, P = I² x R. RMS = 0.707 x peak; peak-to-peak = 2 x peak.
• PEP of an unmodulated carrier equals its average power. A 1 dB loss is about 20.6 percent of the power; 3 dB is a factor of two.
• Transformer voltage follows the turns ratio; the impedance ratio is the turns ratio squared. Larger primary wire carries higher primary current in a step-up transformer.
• Resistors and inductors add in series and combine as reciprocals in parallel; capacitors do the opposite (add in parallel).

Official question groups in G5

• G5A: – Reactance; inductance; capacitance; impedance; impedance transformation; resonance
• G5B: – The decibel; current and voltage dividers; electrical power calculations; sine wave root-mean-square (RMS) values; PEP calculations
• G5C: – Resistors, capacitors, and inductors in series and parallel; transformers

Practice G5 questionsSee all 40 G5 questions

G6: Circuit Components 2 exam questions · 23 in pool

Key facts to know

• Diode forward voltage: about 0.3 V for germanium and 0.7 V for silicon. A transistor used as a switch operates at saturation and cutoff.
• Electrolytic capacitors give high capacitance in a small volume; low-voltage ceramics are inexpensive. Wire-wound resistors are inductive and unsuitable for RF.
• MOSFET gates are insulated from the channel. CMOS logic uses little power. An op-amp is an analog device.
• Ferrite core behavior depends on its material mix; ferrite beads choke common-mode current on coax. Inductors above self-resonance act like capacitors.
• Connectors: BNC works to about 4 GHz, Type N to about 10 GHz and is moisture-resistant, SMA is a small threaded connector for several GHz, and RCA phono is used for audio and DC.
• A 12-volt lead-acid battery should not be discharged below about 10.5 V. Low internal resistance allows high discharge current.

Official question groups in G6

• G6A: – Resistors; capacitors; inductors; rectifiers; solid-state diodes and transistors; vacuum tubes; batteries
• G6B: – Analog and digital integrated circuits (ICs); microwave ICs (MMICs); display devices; RF connectors; ferrite cores

Practice G6 questionsSee all 23 G6 questions

G7: Practical Circuits 3 exam questions · 38 in pool

Key facts to know

• Rectifiers: half-wave uses one diode and converts 180 degrees of the cycle; full-wave converts 360 degrees, producing pulses at twice the line frequency. Bleeder resistors discharge filter capacitors.
• Switchmode supplies run at high frequency, so they use smaller components. Learn the symbols in figure G7-1: FET, NPN transistor, Zener diode, solid-core transformer, tapped inductor.
• Amplifier classes: Class A conducts 100 percent of the time; Class C is most efficient but suits only constant-amplitude modes like FM. Linear amplifiers preserve the waveform for SSB. Efficiency = RF output / DC input.
• Digital: an AND gate outputs high only when both inputs are high; an n-bit counter has 2ⁿ states; a shift register moves data along with each clock pulse.
• SSB is made with a balanced modulator (DSB) plus a filter, and received with a product detector. SDRs use I and Q signals 90 degrees apart and do filtering, detection and modulation in software.
• Filter terms: cutoff frequency is the half-power point, insertion loss is passband attenuation, and ultimate rejection is the maximum out-of-band rejection.

Official question groups in G7

• G7A: – Power supplies; schematic symbols
• G7B: – Digital circuits; amplifiers and oscillators
• G7C: – Transceiver design; filters; oscillators; digital signal processing (DSP)

Practice G7 questionsSee all 38 G7 questions

G8: Signals and Emissions 3 exam questions · 42 in pool

Key facts to know

• AM varies amplitude, FM varies frequency, and PM varies phase. A reactance modulator produces PM. SSB has the narrowest bandwidth of the phone modes; overmodulation causes excessive bandwidth.
• FM bandwidth is about 2 x (deviation + modulating frequency). Multipliers raise frequency and multiply deviation by the same factor.
• Mixers output sum and difference frequencies; image response comes from signals twice the IF away. Odd-order intermodulation products (such as 2F1 - F2) fall closest to the original signals.
• Digital: FT8 uses 8-tone FSK; WSPR is a low-power propagation beacon; PSK31 uses Varicode; Baudot is a 5-bit code; FSK frequencies are called mark and space.
• Error control: ARQ requests retransmission (NAK), and forward error correction sends redundant data. Higher symbol rates need wider bandwidth.
• Link budget = transmit power + antenna gains - losses; link margin is the received level above the minimum needed. On a waterfall, time runs vertically.

Official question groups in G8

• G8A: – Carriers and modulation: AM, FM, and single sideband; modulation envelope; digital modulation; overmodulation; link budgets and link margins
• G8B: – Frequency changing; bandwidths of various modes; deviation; intermodulation
• G8C: – Digital emission modes

Practice G8 questionsSee all 42 G8 questions

G9: Antennas and Feed Lines 4 exam questions · 46 in pool

Key facts to know

• SWR = higher impedance / lower impedance (50 ohms into 200 ohms is 4:1). Feed line loss is given in dB per 100 feet and rises with frequency. Window line is about 450 ohms.
• An antenna tuner at the transmitter does not change SWR on the feed line. Line loss makes measured SWR look better than it really is.
• Lengths: half-wave dipole in feet = 468 / MHz; quarter-wave = 234 / MHz. A dipole's free-space pattern is a figure-eight broadside to the wire. Low dipoles (1/10 to 1/4 wavelength) are good for NVIS.
• Yagis: the driven element is about 1/2 wavelength, the reflector is longer and the director shorter. More directors and a longer boom raise gain; stacking two adds about 3 dB. dBi = dBd + 2.15.
• Matching: beta (hairpin) and gamma matches. Traps enable multiband operation; log-periodic antennas have wide bandwidth; end-fed half-wave antennas have very high feed point impedance.
• Receiving and special antennas: Beverage for directional low-band receiving, small loops for direction finding (nulls broadside to the loop), and halo antennas for omnidirectional VHF.

Official question groups in G9

• G9A: – Feed lines: characteristic impedance and attenuation; standing wave ratio (SWR) calculation, measurement, and effects; antenna feed point matching
• G9B: – Basic dipole and monopole antennas
• G9C: – Directional antennas
• G9D: – Specialized antenna types and applications

Practice G9 questionsSee all 46 G9 questions

G0: Electrical and RF Safety 2 exam questions · 25 in pool

Key facts to know

• RF energy heats body tissue. Exposure depends on duty cycle, frequency and power density, averaged over time. Lower duty cycle permits higher power.
• Compliance can be shown by calculation (OET Bulletin 65), computer modeling or calibrated measurement. Stations above 1 milliwatt time-averaged are covered by the rules.
• If exposure exceeds the limits, prevent people from being exposed, for example by keeping a beam from pointing at neighbors when they are present.
• Electrical: fuse only the hot wires; use AWG 12 wire on 20 A circuits and a 15 A breaker on AWG 14. A GFCI trips when current flows from hot to ground.
• Lightning: ground system outside the building, all grounds bonded together, arrestors where feed lines enter. Never solder lightning ground connections.
• Safety: run generators only in well-ventilated areas, lock out and tag tower power before climbing, check harness rating and service life, and wash hands after handling lead solder.

Official question groups in G0

• G0A: – RF safety principles, rules, and guidelines; routine station evaluation
• G0B: – Station safety: electrical shock, grounding, fusing, interlocks, and wiring; antenna and tower safety

Practice G0 questionsSee all 25 G0 questions

Formulas worth memorizing

Frequently asked questions