ok so I just got my general and I'm trying to figure out 40 meters but honestly the band plan stuff is really confusing me. like I understand there's a difference between what the FCC says I can do and what the band plan says but I dont really get which one I have to follow vs which one is just a suggestion? my elmer told me to stay away from the band edges but didnt really explain why other than saying 'trust me on this one'

also I keep hearing people say things like 7.125 to 7.175 is phone for general class but then I tune around and hear people way outside of that, are they doing something wrong or am I reading the chart wrong? I've been just sitting there listening and not transmitting because im scared of stepping on someone or being out of band. any help appreciated

so the short version is the FCC allocations are the law and the band plans are more like gentlemens agreements that most people follow but yeah nobody can actually cite you for operating outside the band plan as long as your within your license privileges. the ARRL band plan is what most folks reference in the US.

on 40m for general class your phone privileges run from 7.175 to 7.300 MHz so if you hear someone at say 7.150 doing SSB they might be extra class since extras get down to 7.125. thats probably what you're seeing. and your elmer is right about band edges, you want to keep your signal well inside because your actual transmitted signal has some width to it and if your dial is sitting at 7.300 your upper sideband could be going out of band. most people leave at least a few kHz of margin just to be safe, like dont set up right at 7.175 or 7.300.

just start making some contacts, you'll get the hang of where people actually hang out pretty fast

yeah I was totally in the same boat when i got my general last year lol. the thing that finally clicked for me was remembering that SSB takes up bandwidth, so your suppressed carrier frequency (what the rig displays) isnt the only thing being transmitted. on upper sideband your signal goes UP from that number so if you're at 7.298 you might be poking past 7.300 depending on how wide your audio is running. some rigs are worse than others about this.

honestly just download the ARRL frequency allocation chart and tape it near the radio for a while, that's what I did. after a few months you kind of just know where everything is