ok so i passed my technician exam like two months ago and ive been mostly on 2m and 70cm doing local stuff which is fine but i really want to try HF. i read somewhere that techs get some HF privileges but honestly the FCC part 97 document is kind of a wall of text and i cant figure out exactly what im allowed to do without getting in trouble.

from what i can tell i get 10m phone somewhere around 28.3 to 28.5 and some CW privileges on a few other bands? but i also saw something about RTTY or data modes being allowed somewhere. i dont want to just transmit on something and find out i wasnt supposed to be there. is there like a simpler breakdown of this somewhere or am i just going to have to sit down and actually read the whole thing

yeah the arrl website actually has a really clean frequency allocation chart that breaks it down by license class, way easier than staring at the actual part 97 text. for tech on HF you basically get 80m, 40m, 15m, and 10m for CW only except 10m where you get a slice of phone too, 28.300 to 28.500 mhz for SSB. theres also some data and RTTY allocations mixed in there. the actual rule you want is section 97.301 for the frequency allocations and then 97.305 for emission privileges, those two together tell you pretty much everything. its not as bad once you know which sections to look at

honestly just get your general already, the test isnt that hard and it opens up way more of the bands. youll want it eventually anyway

i was in the same boat not long ago, its genuinely confusing because the document is written like legal code and not like something a normal person would read. what finally helped me was the gordon west study book because it explains the privilege stuff in plain english alongside what the actual rule says. also there are apps that show band plans with license class overlays which is kind of nice when youre actually at the radio and just want a quick check