ok so i passed my technician exam like three weeks ago and got my callsign and ive been reading through part 97 trying to figure out what im actually allowed to do. some of it makes sense but some of it is really confusing especially the frequency privileges part. like i know i get HF on 10 meters but is that the whole band or just certain parts of it? and what about phone vs cw, im seeing different things in different places online and some of it seems contradictory or maybe just outdated i cant tell.

also someone at my local club told me techs can do some stuff on 15 meters too but i looked it up and couldnt find anything about that, maybe he was thinking of something else? just want to make sure im operating legally before i actually key up anywhere, dont want to get in trouble right out of the gate.

congrats on the ticket. so for 10 meters as a tech you get CW only from 28.000 to 28.300, and then you can do phone and image from 28.300 to 28.500. that upper segment is where you'll hear most of the SSB activity down there. your club guy was probably thinking of general or maybe confused with something else, techs dont really have meaningful HF phone privileges outside that 10m window and the 28.300-28.500 part honestly. the ARRL has a frequency/priveleges chart on their website that's pretty clear once you find the right version, just make sure its the current one and not something from 2015 or whatever.

the part 97 document itself is kind of a pain to read through if youre not used to legal text, which nobody really is. for day to day operating honestly the ARRL band plan chart is more useful than trying to parse the actual FCC rules, though you should eventually read through the basics of 97.3 and 97.113 since those cover the prohibited stuff which is probably more immediately useful to know.

yeah the 15 meters thing is def wrong, that kicks in at general. i made the same mistake when i was studying lol. honestly just bookmark the ARRL privilege chart and dont rely on what people tell you verbally, even club guys get it wrong sometimes. been licensed 2 years and i still double check stuff before trying a new band.