ok so i passed my tech exam like two months ago and im still a little fuzzy on some of the rules. i get that i have HF privileges on 10m and some other bands but my elmer was telling me something about phone vs cw privileges being different and i honestly got lost. like i understand the band plan generally but part 97 is kind of a wall of text and i dont know where to look for the specific stuff about what modes are allowed where.

also is there somewhere that just explains this in plain english because the FCC document itself is... a lot. i tried reading it but i kept having to look up terms and then i forgot what i was originally looking for. does anyone have like a go-to resource for this or do you just kind of memorize it over time

yeah part 97 is rough to read through if youre not used to regulatory language. the ARRL has a pretty decent summary in their handbook and also on their website, thats usually where i point new hams first. for tech privileges specifically on HF, you basically have CW on portions of 80, 40, and 15 meters, and then phone and image on 10m from 28.300 to 28.500 MHz. thats the big one people actually use.

the way i think about it is your tech license is mostly VHF and up, and the HF stuff is kind of a bonus to get you interested in HF before you upgrade. honestly just go get your general, the exam isnt that hard if youve already done tech and it opens up so much more. but yeah ARRL website, look for the band chart, its a lot easier than staring at the actual CFR.

i was in the same boat not too long ago tbh. what helped me was just finding one of those frequency allocation charts that has all the license classes color coded. theres a few floating around online, just image search arrl band plan and youll find something you can actually read without falling asleep. the actual part 97 text is useful once you know what youre looking for but its not really meant to teach you anything, its just the legal language.