ok so i passed my technician exam like 3 weeks ago and ive been reading through part 97 trying to figure out exactly what im allowed to do and i keep getting confused. like i understand the basic band plan stuff but some of the wording in the actual rules is really hard to parse. my main question i guess is around HF — i know tech has some HF privileges but is that just CW or can i do like SSB on 10 meters too? i thought i read somewhere that techs get a small slice of 10m phone but then someone at my club said no you need general for that. and also is there anything in part 97 that specifically says what modes are allowed or does that depend on the band plan published by the ARRL because those feel like two different things to me and im not sure which one is actually legally binding. sorry if this is a dumb question just want to make sure im operating legally

not a dumb question at all, part 97 is genuinely written in a way that takes some getting used to. so the short answer is yes, techs do get a sliver of 10 meter phone — specifically 28.300 to 28.500 MHz for SSB and other voice modes, up to 200 watts PEP. your club friend was wrong on that one. the full breakdown is in 97.301 and 97.305 which spell out both the frequency allocations and the emission types permitted in each segment.

the other thing youre asking about is actually a really good catch — the ARRL band plan and part 97 are not the same thing. part 97 is the actual FCC regulation and thats whats legally enforceable. the ARRL band plan is basically a gentlemens agreement the amateur community follows to keep things organized but nobody is going to lose their license for operating CW at the wrong end of 40m as long as theyre within the part 97 frequency limits. that said most people follow the band plan anyway because it just works better for everyone.

yeah i was in the same boat when i upgraded, part 97 reads like it was written by lawyers for other lawyers lol. one thing that helped me was just pulling up 97.301 and 97.305 side by side and going through each band i cared about. takes like 20 minutes but after that it clicked way better than trying to read it top to bottom. also the arrl has a prety good privileges chart on their site that maps it all out visually, not legally binding like the other guy said but good for a quick sanity check before you get on air