ok so i passed my technician exam about three weeks ago and ive been reading through Part 97 trying to figure out what im actually allowed to do. the study material kind of glossed over some of this stuff and now that im trying to actually get on the air im second guessing myself on a few things.

like i know techs have HF privileges on 10m but im not totally clear on what modes are allowed there vs what general/extra class guys can do. and then someone at my club mentioned something about needing to identify every 10 minutes and at the end of a contact but i thought it was just every 10 minutes? and does that apply to simplex on 2m too or just HF, i genuinely cannot find a straight answer on this.

also someone told me you cant use your callsign with a portable designator like /M or /P anymore and the FCC got rid of that requirement but then someone else said you still can if you want to. who is right here lol

the identification thing trips a lot of new hams up. Part 97.119 says you have to ID at the end of each contact AND at least every ten minutes during a contact, so both things that person told you are correct — its not one or the other. and yes that applies everywhere, 2m simplex, HF, doesnt matter. any transmission under your license.

on the /M /P thing your second source is closer to right. the FCC doesnt require those suffixes anymore but theres nothing stopping you from using them if you want to. some people still do out of habit or just to let people know theyre mobile. its optional not mandatory.

for tech HF privileges on 10m youre looking at CW anywhere in the band and then phone/image modes in a specific chunk up around 28.3 to 28.5 MHz. generals and extras have a bigger slice of the band available to them. the ARRL website actually has a really clear frequency chart that lays all this out, worth bookmarking honestly.

went through the exact same confusion when i got my ticket. the band plan stuff especially. one thing nobody told me early on is that the FCC rules in Part 97 are kind of the floor not the ceiling — like the band plans you see from ARRL are voluntary gentlemens agreements on top of the legal requirements, so you can techncially transmit phone where the band plan says CW only and not violate Part 97, but youll make a lot of enemies doing it lol.

anyway yeah what the other guy said about ID is right. and welcome to the hobby, 10m is a lot of fun when the band is open