ok so i just passed my technician exam like two weeks ago and ive been reading through part 97 trying to figure out what im actually allowed to do and honestly its more confusing than i expected. like i get that i have HF privileges on 10 meters but i keep seeing conflicting stuff about what modes are allowed where. someone at my club told me i can do phone on a certain part of 10m but then i looked at the band plan and now im not sure if that was the actual FCC rules or just a gentlemens agreement thing.

also is there anything in part 97 about what you can talk about on the air? i know you cant do music or broadcast stuff but like can you just chat about anything? i feel like i should know this before i key up for the first time and accidentally do something wrong. any help appreciated

yeah the band plan thing trips up a lot of new folks. so the actual FCC allocation and the band plan that ARRL publishes are two different things — the FCC rules are the legal minimums you have to follow, and the band plan is more like what the community agreed to do to keep things organized. you're not going to get a knock on your door for transmitting phone in the wrong part of the band as long as youre within your actual licensed privileges, but people will grumble at you on the air sometimes.

for tech on 10 meters, 28.300 to 28.500 MHz is where you can do SSB phone, that part is the actual FCC rule from the privileges table. below that is CW and digital territory by convention mostly. and yeah for content — part 97.113 is the one that lists prohibited transmissions. no music, no obscene language, no codes meant to obscure meaning, no transmitting for hire basically. but just chatting about your day or whatever is totally fine, thats kind of the whole point of the hobby.

dont stress too much about accidentally doing something terrible your first time on the air. the FCC isnt sitting there waiting to pounce on a brand new tech. just know your callsign, ID every 10 minutes during a contact and at the end, that's 97.119 i think. most beginners mess that up more than anything else, forgetting to ID or only doing it at the end.