okay so i passed my tech exam about three weeks ago and ive been reading through part 97 trying to figure out what im actually allowed to do and honestly its kind of a mess to read through. like i get that i have HF privileges on 10 meters but i keep seeing different things about what modes are allowed where and im not totally sure if i can do like SSB on 10m or just CW. also someone at my local club told me something about a 1500 watt limit but then i read something else that said it depends on the band or the license class or something. i dont want to accidentally transmit somewhere i shouldnt be, especially since ive heard the FCC takes that stuff seriously. is there like a simpler breakdown somewhere or does anyone have the cliff notes version of what a tech can do on HF

yeah part 97 is written in government-speak so its kind of brutal to just sit down and read cover to cover. for your question about 10m, as a tech you get phone privileges from 28.300 to 28.500 MHz so yes SSB is fine in that range. below that on 10m you have CW access down to 28.000 i believe. the 1500 watt thing is a bit of a red herring for most people because thats the absolute max for general and extra class on most bands, but as a tech on HF youre actually limited to 200 watts PEP on the 10m phone segment if i remember right. honestly just look up the ARRL band plan alongside part 97, the ARRL version is way more readable and lays it out visually so you can actually see whats what at a glance. and dont stress too much about accidentally keying up somewhere wrong when youre first starting out, just double check before you transmit and youll be fine.

im pretty much in the same boat as you, got my tech a few months back. what helped me was finding one of those laminated band charts, my elmer gave me one and i just keep it next to the radio. still havent fully wrapped my head around all of it tbh