ok so ive had my general for about 3 months now and i still get confused about where i can actually transmit on 40 meters. like i know theres the tech portion and the general portion and then extra but when i look at the band plan on the arrl website it shows slightly different numbers than what my radio's memory channels have and also someone in my club told me to stay away from the band edges but didnt really explain why

i was trying to call cq around 7.290 last weekend and someone came on and told me i was too close to the edge or something, i honestly couldnt tell if they were being helpful or just being that guy you know? my rig shows i was at 7.290.00 so i dont really understand what the problem was supposed to be. is there some unwritten rule about this or am i actually doing something wrong

the band edge thing is real and its not just people being annoying. basically when you transmit SSB your signal isnt just sitting right on the frequency your dial shows — the actual audio sidebands spread out, so if you're on 7.300 which is the upper edge of the general segment, part of your signal is technically outside your license privileges. most people say stay at least 3 khz inside the edge to be safe, some say 2.8 but 3 is a comfortable buffer. 7.290 should be fine honestly, maybe whoever said something was confused themselves or your signal was a little wide. does your radio have any kind of filtering or processing cranked up? that can widen your transmitted bandwidth sometimes.

yeah i had the same confusion when i upgraded. the arrl band plan and the actual FCC allocations are two different things btw, the arrl one is kind of a gentlemens agreement about what modes go where, the fcc one is what your license actually covers legally. so like phone for general on 40 is 7.175 to 7.300 mhz, that 7.300 is the hard legal edge. the arrl might suggest you keep ssb in a slightly different spot but thats just courtesy not law. anyway 7.290 is fine youre not doing anything wrong, some guys on 40 are just territorial its kind of a whole thing on that band lol