ok so i passed my technician exam like two months ago and ive been mostly just doing 2m stuff but i want to get on HF. i keep reading part 97 and honestly it just makes my head spin trying to figure out what privileges i actually have. like i know i can do some CW on certain bands but can i actually do voice anywhere? somebody at the club mentioned 10 meters but then somebody else said something different and now im not sure who to believe. also is there anything about power limits that are different for techs vs general? i dont want to accidentally transmit somewhere im not supposed to and get in trouble with the fcc

yeah the tech HF privileges are pretty limited but they do exist. for voice you can do SSB on 10 meters, specifically 28.300 to 28.500 MHz, so your club buddy was right about that. you also get some CW segments on 80, 40, 15, and 10 meters. the power limit for technicians on HF is 200 watts PEP on those limited segments, which is actually plenty to make contacts especially on 10 when the band is open.

honestly the easiest thing to do is just google the arrl band plan for technicians and print it out and tape it next to your radio. part 97 itself is kind of written in legalese and its not the most friendly thing to read if youre just trying to figure out where you can operate. the actual subpart B section 97.301 is where the frequency allocations are if you do want to read it straight from the source though.

just get your general already, problem solved lol. seriously though the tech HF privs are so limited its kind of frustrating, i remember sitting there with my tech ticket thinking i was gonna get on HF and then realizing how little i could actually do. the general exam really isnt that hard, i studied for maybe three weeks using hamStudy.org and passed no problem. then the whole HF world opens up.