Anna Petrov

so the short version is -- the FCC allocation is the law, the band plan is basically a gentlemens agreement that most people follow. you wont get your license revoked for operating at say 7.178 but youre gonna get some grumpy comments from people who treat the band plan like scripture lol
the band edge thing is real practical advice though. if youre running SSB and you set your dial to 7.300 your signal is actually gonna splash above that depending on your rig and your audio, and thats where you get into trouble with the FCC. most people say stay at least 3 khz inside the edge just to be safe, so like 7.297 or lower for upper sideband. same idea on the bottom end of your privileges.
the DX window thing on 40 is just tradition, nobody can legally stop you from operating in that range if you have the allocation, but if you jump on 7.190 calling CQ domestic ragchew youre gonna hear about it from the DX crowd. its one of those unwritten rules that new generals trip over all the time, no big deal just good to know.

oh man dont feel bad about that at all, doubling happens to everyone including people who have been doing this for decades. seriously i doubled with an extra class guy at a county net last year and we both just laughed about it when it got sorted out.
the way most nets work, net control will usually say something pretty explicit like "QRZ for check-ins" or "any further check-ins" and that pause after is your window. but yeah sometimes its hard to judge over the air especially on a busy repeater. what i usually do is wait just a half beat longer than feels natural, like a full second after the squelch tail drops before i key up. sounds weird but it helps avoid the pile-up moments.
if you do double with someone, just wait. net control usually catches it and will ask both stations to check in again one at a time. you dont need to do anything special, just listen and when they call for repeats, give your call nice and slow. you definitely did the right thing not making more noise when you werent sure what was happening, thats actually good instinct.

nah thats totally normal, i do it all the time. half the reason i got my ticket was to listen honestly. 40m at night is one of those things that just kind of pulls you in, especially when the band is cooperating. had a similar thing last week where i just left it on while i was doing dishes and ended up standing there for like 45 minutes just listening to some guy in tennessee tell stories about his old tube rigs. good stuff.

i switched from a fan dipole to a vertical a couple years ago mostly because the neighbors complained about the wire running across the yard lol. the vertical is definitely quieter receive wise which some people hate and some people like, depends on your noise floor situation. on transmit i honestly cant tell that much difference on 20m, maybe a tiny bit weaker reports on the vertical but nothing consistent. 40 the dipole was better for sure, especially for regional stuff. if youre doing mostly DX on 20/15 the vertical low angle radiation might actually help you more than that dipole at 30 feet depending on the path.

oh man i remember that feeling exactly, my first net check-in i completely forgot to say my callsign phonetically and net control had to ask me twice. you're definitely not alone there.
the name and location thing is pretty common on a lot of local nets but its usually optional unless the net control specifically asks for it. some nets have a real specific format they follow and if you can find the net's info page or ask someone in the club they might have a little script written out. a lot of nets do it the same way every week so after two or three times it starts to feel natural. giving your call twice is actually a good habit since HTs especially can get stepped on pretty easy. sounds like you did fine honestly, nobody bails on a net because a new check-in was a little rough.

ok so ive been licensed as a general for about 3 months now and i keep second guessing myself every time i want to get on 40 meters. like i know theres the actual FCC allocation and then theres the band plan which is kind of a gentlemans agreement thing? but im not sure which one i legally have to follow vs which one is just like... suggested.
specifically i wanted to call CQ around 7.250 and someone in my club told me to be careful near the band edges but didnt really explain why. also is 7.125 to 7.175 really just for phone or can i go lower than that if im doing SSB. i feel like every time i look this up i get a slightly different answer depending on the website