so i just passed my technician exam like three weeks ago and im still trying to wrap my head around the band privileges. i know i have HF access on 10m but someone at my club meeting said something about phone vs CW and now im more confused than before. like is there a chart somewhere that actually makes sense or do i just have to memorize the whole part 97 thing. also someone mentioned i cant use certain modes on certain bands and i dont even know where to start with that. the ARRL band plan helps a little but it doesnt really explain the why behind any of it

yeah the tech privileges on HF are kind of awkward to explain at first but basically on 10m you get phone from 28.300 to 28.500 MHz and CW on a chunk of the lower end, something like 28.000 to 28.300 i think, dont quote me exactly go look it up. the ARRL has a privileges chart thats color coded by license class and honestly thats the easiest way to see it at a glance rather than trying to parse the actual part 97 language which is written for lawyers not hams. the short version is you have pretty wide access on VHF and UHF which is where most techs spend their time anyway until they upgrade

i was in the same boat when i got my tech. honestly just grab the ARRL operating manual or even just google arrl band plan pdf and bookmark it. i printed mine out and taped it next to my radio for like the first month. the part 97 rules themselves are at ecfr.gov and they are kind of dense but once you find section 97.301 it lays out the frequency allocations by license class pretty clearly, or at least clearer than trying to piece it together from forum posts lol. also dont stress too much about memorizing every single thing, just look it up before you operate somewhere new