Currently studying for my General, I've got it in my calendar for May 16th. I used K4IA book for my Technician, but for whatever reason I'm struggling with the K4IA book for General, so I've got the Gordon General book arriving Monday.
Please let me know how you like the Gordon West book. People often ask questions about different study guides, and I like having more than the default ARRL Manual answer. The other thing you can do is head over to www.hamstudy.org and make an account. It's free. With an account, the site can keep track of things you miss on practice tests, and drill you on that material more often. If you use HamStudy exclusively, work through the flashcards first, then work practice tests. Unlocking General opens up a huge amount of HF on the bands, and conditions continue to improve as we get into the new solar cycle.
I neglected to mention, but should have, I do have a HamStudy account and use the website and the app to study for the General. I used HamStudy for the Technician as well.
Passed General Tuesday night, 34/35. Gordon West book was a help for sure. Now to treat myself to a VHF/UHF mobile. No room at home for a shack sadly.
Outstanding! Congratulations! An HF rig doesn't occupy a terrible amount of real estate on the folding tables that are my desk in the hobby room. Something like the Yaesu FT-891 is pretty small -- and portable if you wanted to do something like Parks on the Air or Summits on the Air. And the 891 isn't much more than Yaesu's top of the line UHF/VHF radios. And who knows what they'll release or tease at Hamvention. I haven't seen any posts from our club members who are there as of yet. I'm running the Chameleon MPAS (original 1.0 version) as a 17 foot whip on the balcony of a 2nd floor townhouse at the moment. I've worked Angola, Kenya, South Cook Islands, South Korea, Western Kiribati and North Macedonia in the past month on CW. So not a giant amount of real estate required, and super portable as well.
I just found me an Elmer next door. I just found out yesterday that a dude I met racing slot cars about 15 years ago has been living in his daughter's back yard since Thanksgiving. Last I heard he was living in a retirement community in south Florida. He lived near my sister once and his radio would play through her baby monitor. His daughter and her husband bought the place next door last year. I didn't realize who she was until yesterday. My gf showed me a FB post with her maiden name and I pieced everything together. Last night was the first time I have seen him in around 10 years. He used to manage the track and I hung out a lot learning to build chassis from the old guys.
