okay so ive been licensed for about 8 months now, general class, and i feel like every time i think i understand what frequencies im allowed to use something comes up that confuses me again. my friend told me i cant use certain digital modes on certain parts of the band and i honestly dont know if hes right or if hes mixing it up with technician privileges or whatever.

like i get that part 97 exists and theres a band plan but the band plan isnt actually law right? its just like a gentlemans agreement? or is some of it actually in the FCC rules? im specifically asking because i want to start doing some js8call stuff and someone in another group told me i had to stay below a certain frequency on 40m for digital but i cant find where that actually comes from

also separate question kind of — if i accidentally transmit on a frequency im not supposed to, like by mistake, how much trouble can i realistically get in? is that even something the FCC actually cares about or are they too busy

so the band plan vs actual FCC rules thing trips up a lot of people. the short version is the ARRL band plan is voluntary, but Part 97 itself has actual legally binding frequency allocations based on license class. for general on 40m you can operate phone from 7.175 to 7.300, and CW and digital from 7.025 up. so JS8call would fall under the digital/data allocation and youd generally be fine in that lower portion.

the thing your friend might be thinking of is the gentlemans agreement that keeps digital stuff below like 7.125 or so to avoid stepping on phone ops, but thats not an FCC rule, thats just how the community operates. 97.305 is the section you want to look at for emission privileges by license class, that one actually lays out what modes are allowed where. worth bookmarking the actual part 97 document honestly, its not as dense as it looks once you get used to how its written

as for accidentally transmitting somewhere you shouldnt — one time is not gonna bring the FCC down on you, they have way bigger fish to fry. repeat intentional violations are another story but an honest mistake is an honest mistake

yeah what he said about 97.305 is right, that section is basically the one to read for this. i spent like an hour on it when i upgraded and it finally clicked.

the FCC enforcement thing is kind of a gray area in practice. they do still act on complaints especially if somebodys causing interference repeatedly, theres been some notable cases in the last few years. but a single oops on the wrong freq isnt going to do anything, nobody is monitoring every transmission waiting to pounce