ok so i passed my general a few weeks ago and ive been trying to figure out where i can actually transmit on 40 meters. i know technicians are limited but i cant quite figure out where my privileges start and end. like i see people saying dont go below 7.125 for phone but then i also see stuff about 7.175 and honestly the arrl band plan chart i printed out is a little confusing because it shows recommended vs actual fcc allocations and i dont know which one to actually follow.

also someone on a net told me to stay away from the band edges which makes sense i guess but how far away are we talking, like 7.125 exactly or should i leave some buffer. sorry if this is a dumb question im still getting my bearings

not a dumb question at all, this trips up a lot of new generals. so the actual FCC allocation for general on 40m phone starts at 7.175 MHz, not 7.125 -- 7.125 to 7.175 is extra class territory for phone. for CW and data you get more of the band, generals can go down to 7.025 for CW.

the band edge thing is real and worth taking seriously. your rig's carrier might be right at 7.175 but your signal has sidebands that extend a few kHz up or down depending on audio, so if you're running SSB you wanna be a bit inside the edge, most people say at least 3 kHz in to be safe, so like 7.178 or higher for lower sideband. the recommended vs actual thing on the band plan -- the FCC part is law, the recommended stuff is just gentlemans agreement about where different modes tend to congregate.

yeah what the other guy said, also just worth knowing that 40m can get pretty crowded especially in the evenings and a lot of the lower end gets taken over by dx and some of the higher frequencies get busy with stateside ragchewing so just spin the dial and listen for a bit before you transmit, youll get a feel for it pretty quick. i remember being totally lost on this stuff when i upgraded too