okay so ive been licensed about 3 months now, got my general back in september and i thought i understood the band plan but now im second guessing myself. on 40 meters i know technicians are basically locked out of phone but as a general can i operate anywhere on 40 or are there still parts i cant touch. i was looking at the arrl band plan chart and also the actual fcc part 97 allocations and they dont totally match up which is confusing me. like the band plan shows certain things but is that actually law or just a suggestion? someone at my club said i should stay away from the band edges but didnt really explain why. also whats the deal with 7.125 or wherever the dx window is supposed to be, is that enforceable or just a gentleman agreement type thing

good question and yeah this trips up a lot of new generals. so the fcc allocation is the law, the arrl band plan is more like a gentlemens agreement the community tries to follow but nobody can legally make you stick to it. for 40m as a general you can do phone from 7.175 to 7.300 MHz, everything below that on 40 is CW and digital only for generals. the dx window around 7.175-7.225 ish is just convention, no enforcement behind it, but if you park on top of a pile up working a rare entity youre gonna hear about it pretty quick from other ops.

the band edge thing is real practical advice. your radio might not be perfectly calibrated and if you think youre at 7.300 you might actually be slightly above it which puts you out of band. most people suggest staying a few khz inside the edge just to be safe, especially until you really trust your rig's dial. some older rigs can be off by a surprising amount.

yeah what he said. i'd also add dont stress too much about accidentally landing somewhere weird when youre just starting out, just keep the band plan chart open on your phone or printed out next to the rig and youll be fine. i went like a year before i really had it memorized. the main thing generals have to watch on 40 is that lower chunk below 7.175, easy to drift down there if you're not paying attention especially if the band is crowded and you're hunting for a clear frequency