so i just passed my technician exam last month and ive been trying to figure out exactly what im allowed to do. i know i have privileges on VHF and UHF and some limited HF but every time i try to read part 97 directly it just kind of makes my eyes glaze over. like the actual document is so dense.

my main question is about the HF stuff — i keep hearing people say techs can use certain portions of 10 meters and maybe 40 meters for phone but im not totally sure whats phone vs what isnt and whether there are power limits i need to worry about. also someone at the club mentioned something about a third party traffic rule and i have no idea what that is or if it applies to me yet. is there like a plain english version of the rules somewhere or do i just have to suffer through the actual CFR document

yeah part 97 is rough to read cold, dont feel bad. the ARRL has a band plan chart that basically lays out what each license class can do and it's way easier to follow than the actual regulation text. just google arrl band plan and it should come up, it color codes by license class which helps a lot.

for the tech HF stuff — you get a small slice of 10 meters for phone, i think it's 28.300 to 28.500 MHz, and then some CW privileges on other bands but not phone. the 40 meter thing might be outdated info or whoever told you that was maybe thinking of general class, i wouldnt count on 40m phone as a tech. power limit on HF for techs is 200 watts PEP from what i remember but double check that.

third party traffic is basically about passing messages to or from someone who isnt a licensed ham, like if your buddy wants to say hi to his mom in another country through your radio. theres rules about which countries allow it and which dont. its not really something you need to stress about right away unless you're specifically trying to do that.

honestly i was in the same boat when i first got my ticket and what helped me was just finding a study guide PDF that had part 97 broken down in normal language. ham study dot com or similar sites sometimes have that kind of thing. also the question pool for the general exam actually teaches you a lot of the rules stuff if you wanna get a head start on upgrading anyway