okay so i passed my tech exam like 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 confusing. like i get that i have HF privileges on 10m and some other bands but what about the power limits and stuff. my buddy who got his general last year keeps telling me different things and i dont know who to believe at this point.

also what does it mean when it says "phone" privileges specifically, does that just mean voice or does that include digital stuff like FT8? i tried looking it up on the fcc website and it just sent me in circles. is there like a plain english version of this somewhere that isnt just someone trying to sell me a study guide

so the phone vs digital thing trips up a lot of people. phone in part 97 language means voice modes basically, SSB, AM, FM. FT8 and other weak signal digital stuff falls under a different emission type designation, usually listed as data or RTTY/data in the band plans. as a tech you do have some data privileges on HF but it depends on the band and the frequency range within it. the ARRL band plan chart is honestly the easiest thing to bookmark, its not perfect but its way less painful than reading the actual CFR text.

for power limits as a tech on HF youre generally looking at 200 watts PEP on most of those privileges, not the full 1500 that extras run. your buddy might be mixing up general and tech limits which happens constantly. just double check the specific band section in part 97.301 and 97.313, those are the two you want.

yeah i was in the exact same boat when i first got my ticket, the fcc documents read like they were written by lawyers for lawyers which i mean they basically were. there used to be a really good plain english breakdown on the arrl site but i cant remember if its still there or if they moved it. someone in my local club printed out a little cheat sheet for new hams that had all the tech privileges laid out by band, might be worth asking if your area has a club doing something similar. the elmers there will usually just tell you straight up what you can and cant do without making you wade through the cfr