ok so ive been a tech for about 8 months now and i know i have some HF privileges but i honestly cant figure out from the part 97 stuff exactly where i'm allowed to operate. like i know theres something about 10 meters and maybe 40 meters for phone? but then someone at my club said techs can do some CW on other bands too and i got completely lost trying to read the actual FCC rules because the table is kind of confusing when you read it the first time.

also i was wondering if theres some kind of rule about how often you have to identify yourself? i thought it was every 10 minutes but my elmer said something different and now im second guessing everything. i dont want to accidentally break a rule i didnt know about. is there like a plain english version of part 97 somewhere that actually makes sense to a beginner

yeah the privileges table trips everybody up at first, dont feel bad. for technicians you get full privileges on 10 meters for phone, and then yeah theres a handful of other bands where you can do CW and some digital modes but not voice. 40, 15, and 80 meters have small CW-only windows for techs if i remember right, around 7.025 to 7.125 on 40 for example, but double check that because i might be slightly off on the exact edges.

on the ID thing your elmer is probably referring to the same rule you are, it IS every 10 minutes during a contact and then at the end of the transmission or series of transmissions. thats straight from part 97.119. the ARRL website actually has a pretty readable breakdown of the privilege table if you search for technician HF privileges, way easier than staring at the actual CFR. once you upgrade to general a lot of this stuff becomes kind of a non-issue anyway but knowing the rules is always worth it

i was in the same boat when i got my tech, just upgrade to general honestly its not that hard and then most of HF opens up. studied for like two weeks and passed. the question pool is online for free and a lot of the part 97 stuff shows up in the exam anyway so you kind of learn the rules while you study which is nice