ok so i just got my technician license last month and ive been reading through part 97 trying to figure out what the rules actually are and honestly its kind of a mess to read through. like i get the basic idea but some of it is really confusing. my main question is about what counts as prohibited transmissions — i know you cant do music and you cant broadcast to the general public but what exactly counts as broadcasting? like if im just talking to a friend on 2 meters and someone else happens to hear it, is that broadcasting? and also ive seen people say you cant transmit obscene language but who decides whats obscene, is there like a list somewhere or is it just whatever the FCC feels like that day. also someone at my club meeting said something about third party traffic and how you have to be careful with that and now im paranoid about literally everything i say on the radio. sorry if this is a dumb question im just trying to not accidentally break any rules

not a dumb question at all, this stuff trips up a lot of new hams. the broadcasting thing — the way it works is that broadcasting means you're transmitting intended for the general public with no specific intended recipient, like a radio station does. just talking to your buddy on 2m even if others can hear is totally fine, thats just normal amateur operation. the FCC isnt gonna come after you for that.

the obscene language thing is kind of vague by design honestly, there isnt a specific list, its more of a community standards type thing. basically just dont say stuff youd be embarrassed to say in front of a room full of people. in practice nobody is monitoring your local repeater looking for slip-ups.

third party traffic is the one that actually has some teeth to it — basically its when a non-licensed person uses YOUR station to communicate, like if your neighbor asks you to relay a message to someone. thats allowed under certain conditions domestically but if youre talking to a country that doesnt have a third party agreement with the US you need to be careful. your control op is responsible for everything that goes out over the station. theres a list on the ARRL website of which countries have agreements, worth bookmarking

yeah what he said about third party traffic is the big one people mess up on. i actually got into an awkward situation a while back where a friend wanted to say hi to someone i was working DX with and i had to explain i couldnt just hand over the mic because the country we were talking to wasnt on the third party list. the guy thought i was being weird about it lol but its a real rule.

honestly for day to day stuff on vhf/uhf you probably dont need to stress too much about part 97 as a tech, just dont do anything obviously stupid and youll be fine. the rules exist more to prevent actual interference and misuse than to catch normal hams making honest mistakes