ok so i just passed my technician exam last month and ive been reading through the FCC part 97 rules trying to figure out what bands i actually have access to on HF and its honestly kind of confusing. like i understand i get full privileges on 2m and 70cm and stuff but the HF situation is weird. i know techs get some HF but i cant tell if its just CW or if i can actually do voice on 10 meters or what. and then theres the question of power limits, does the 200w limit apply everywhere or just certain bands or is that only for certain modes. ive been trying to cross reference a few different websites and they all say slightly different things which doesnt help. just want to make sure i dont accidentally transmit somewhere i shouldnt while im still figuring all this out

yeah the tech HF privileges are a little scattered but once you see them laid out it makes more sense. basically as a tech you get CW privileges on a few HF bands, 80, 40, 15, and 10 meters i think, but the only place you can do phone (voice) is on 10 meters, specifically 28.300 to 28.500 MHz. thats it for voice on HF until you upgrade. the 200 watt thing is specifically for the HF tech phone and image segment on 10m, your other privileges arent limited the same way. honestly the easiest thing is just to pull up the actual ARRL band plan chart they have on their site, it breaks down privileges by license class visually and its way easier than reading the raw part 97 text. and dont stress too much about accidentally transmitting somewhere wrong, just double check before you key up and youll be fine

i was in the same boat when i got my tech. the part that got me was i kept reading about technicians having 10m privileges and i assumed that meant the whole band but nope, its just that slice at the top. i ended up just bookmarking the FCC part 97 subpart D page and ctrl+f searching for technician whenever i wasnt sure. its not the most readable thing but at least its the actual source and you know its right. also worth knowing that if you operate outside your privleges even by accident it can technically be an FCC violation so yeah its worth getting sorted before you start transmitting on HF