okay so i passed my technician exam like three weeks ago and ive been trying to figure out exactly what frequencies i have access to. i keep reading part 97 but honestly its kind of written in a way that makes my head spin. like i understand i have HF privileges on 10 meters but only certain parts of it? and then theres the 2m and 70cm stuff which seems more straightforward but even then im not 100% sure what modes i can use where.

my main question i guess is, is there like a simplified version of this somewhere that isnt just a pdf full of legal language. also i saw something about phone privileges being restricted to certain segments and im not sure if that applies to me or if thats for general class. i dont wanna accidentally transmit somewhere i shouldnt be, especially since im still pretty new and already nervous enough about keying up on a repeater for the first time.

yeah the ARRL has a frequency/privileges chart on their website that breaks it down way better than reading the actual part 97 text. just search for ARRL technician privileges and it should come up as a PDF or a table, way more readable. basically as a tech you have full privileges on 2m, 70cm, and the other VHF/UHF bands which is where most people start out anyway. on 10m HF you get CW on 28.000-28.300 and then phone/image on 28.300-28.500 only, so yeah there is a limited segment there. just stick to that and youll be fine. honestly for getting started on a local repeater none of that matters, you have full access to 2m so just go for it.

i was in the same boat when i first got my ticket, part 97 reads like it was written by lawyers for lawyers lol. one thing that helped me was just downloading the ARRL band plan and keeping it saved on my phone. also dont stress too much about accidentally going out of band when youre on a repeater because youre just using whatever frequency the repeater is on and those are pretty much always in the right segments. the place where people mess up is on HF and usually thats more of a general or extra class thing to worry about for now.