ok so i passed my technician exam about 3 weeks ago and ive been trying to figure out exactly what frequencies im allowed to operate on and its honestly more confusing than i expected. i read through part 97 but some of it is really dense and i feel like im missing something. like i get that i have HF privileges on 10m but only certain portions right? and then theres the whole thing about phone vs cw vs digital modes and which ones i can use where.

my main question i guess is where do i find a really clear breakdown of this because the FCC document itself is kind of hard to parse. also someone at my local club told me techs can do some stuff on 40m but i dont think thats right? or maybe it is and im wrong. just want to make sure im not accidentally transmitting somewhere im not supposed to be

yeah the arrl frequency/privileges chart is honestly the thing you want for this, way easier to read than part 97 itself. just search for arrl technician privileges chart and you should find a PDF. the one your club guy mentioned about 40m -- techs do get 40m but its CW only, 7.025 to 7.125 i think, so no phone down there. same deal with 80m and 15m, CW privileges only in limited segments. the real phone action for techs on HF is 28.300 to 28.500 on 10m.

dont stress too much about accidentally keying up in the wrong place when youre just starting out, but yeah its good that youre thinking about it. most rigs will let you transmit anywhere so the responsibility is on you to know. once you upgrade to general a lot of this gets way simpler honestly

im basically in the same boat as you passed my tech in the spring and spent way too long trying to read the actual FCC rules lol. what helped me was finding one of those band plan graphics that shows everything visually, the ARRL one is good but i also found one on some guys personal site that color coded it by license class which made it click for me finally. good luck with it