okay so i got my tech ticket about two months ago and ive been reading through part 97 trying to figure out what im actually allowed to do and honestly its kind of a mess to understand. like i know i have HF privileges on 10 meters and some other bands but i cant figure out if theres like a wattage limit that applies specifically to me as a tech or if its the same as everyone else. and then theres all this stuff about third party traffic and what counts as broadcasting vs normal QSOs and i dont even know where to start with that.

my elmer keeps saying just dont worry about it and get on the air but i feel like i should actually understand the rules before i start transmitting, you know? is there a plain english version of this somewhere or does everyone just kind of learn as they go

yeah part 97 reads like it was written by lawyers because it basically was, but its not as bad once you break it down a bit. the power limits arent really technician-specific for most bands, the general limit is 1500 watts PEP on most HF bands but honestly as a new tech you probably dont have an amp anyway so dont stress that part. the thing that trips most new folks up is the phone privileges on 10 meters, you got from 28.300 to 28.500 MHz which is solid and theres usually activity there when the band is open.

the broadcasting thing is actually simpler than it sounds, you basically just cant transmit for the purpose of general reception by the public like a radio station would. a normal QSO where youre talking to someone specific is fine. third party traffic is its own rabbit hole but the short version is you can pass messages for non-hams to other countries that have third party agreements with the US, and theres a list on the ARRL website of which countries those are.

honestly your elmer isnt totally wrong though, you learn a lot more from just operating than from reading the rules in a vacuum. get on 2m or 10m when its open and a lot of this stuff will start clicking naturally

same boat as you like six months ago lol. what helped me was the ARRL handbook has a section that kinda summarizes the important parts of 97 without all the legal language. also there are some youtube videos that walk through it pretty clearly. the wattage stuff confused me too for a while but for HF as a tech you mostly just need to worry about not going over 200 watts on certain bands i think, or was it specific frequencies... anyway someone will correct me on that. the main thing is just dont transmit where youre not supposed to and keep your station ID every 10 minutes during a contact and at the end