ok so i passed my technician exam about 3 months ago and ive been mostly just listening and doing some local repeater stuff but i want to start doing more and im not totally clear on what bands i actually have privileges on. like i know i have VHF and UHF but someone at the club meeting said techs also have some HF access? i looked at Part 97 and honestly its a lot to take in, the language is pretty dense and i kept getting lost trying to figure out which subpart applies to what.

also is there somewhere that just lays it out in plain english without me having to cross-reference like 6 different sections. i dont want to accidentally transmit somewhere i shouldnt be, especially on HF where i feel like the old timers would eat me alive lol

yeah techs do get some HF. you get phone privileges on 10 meters around 28.300 to 28.500, and there's some CW access on a couple other bands too like 15 and 40 meters for CW only. the ARRL website actually has a frequency privilege chart that breaks it all down by license class, way easier to read than the actual Part 97 text. just search for ARRL frequency allocation chart and it should come up pretty quick.

honestly dont stress too much about accidentally wandering into the wrong spot, just listen first and you'll get a feel for where things are. and yeah 10m can be a bit rough when conditions are good and the dx guys are piling up but techs on phone are pretty common there so no one should give you a hard time

i was in the same boat when i first got my ticket. part 97 reads like it was written by lawyers for lawyers. the ARRL band plan is helpful but i'd also reccomend just downloading the technician question pool pdf and skimming the regulation questions, they kind of summarize the important parts in a way that actually makes sense. thats how i figured out most of it before i upgraded to general.