ok so ive been trying to figure this out for a while and i keep getting different answers depending on what website i look at. im a general class and i want to operate phone on 40 meters but im not sure exactly where i can go. i know theres something about the band edges being dangerous or whatever but i dont really understand why you cant just go right up to 7.300 or whatever the edge is. also somebody at my club said dont go below 7.175 as a general but then i looked at the arrl band plan and it seemed like maybe i could go a bit lower than that? im just trying to figure out where to park for a normal sso contact without accidentally doing something wrong or stepping on extras only territory

the short version is as a general you get 7.175 to 7.300 for phone on 40m, that's your chunk. the reason people say avoid the very edge of the band — like right at 7.300 — is because your signal has sidebands that extend beyond your carrier frequency and if youre too close to the edge those sidebands can spill outside the amateur allocation entirely which is a no-no with the FCC. so most people just stay a few khz inside to be safe, like dont call cq on 7.299 basically. and yeah the stuff below 7.175 down to 7.125 is extra class only for phone so your club guy was right about that. the arrl band plan and the actual FCC regs are two different things by the way — the band plan is kind of a gentlemans agreement on top of the actual legal limits, so sometimes they dont match up perfectly and that causes confusion

yeah i was confused about the same thing when i upgraded. the band edge thing clicked for me when someone explained that a USB signal at 7.300 actually has audio content going up to like 7.303 or so depending on your audio, so youre technically out of band even if your dial reads 7.300. most rigs these days will let you tune right to the edge without stopping you so you gotta know this yourself. i just keep a sticky note on my desk with the general limits until i memorized them lol