so i finally did it after putting it off for like two years lol. passed the technician exam yesterday at the library session and got my callsign this morning (FCC was way faster than i expected, like 12 hours?). grabbed my baofeng that ive had sitting in a drawer and programmed in the local repeater and just... keyed up and said my callsign and someone actually came back to me. guy named Bob was on there doing his morning drive and we chatted for maybe 10 minutes about nothing really, weather and how long ive been studying. felt weirdly exciting for just talking on a radio. anyway just wanted to share somewhere, nobody in my family gets why im excited about this

congrats man that first contact is something you dont forget. mine was on a 2m repeater too, some old timer who could tell i was nervous and just kept the conversation going which was nice. welcome to the hobby, it gets a lot deeper from here if you want it to

haha yeah the FCC turnaround has been surprisingly quick lately. and same with the family thing, my wife still doesnt understand why i get excited about talking to someone in ohio on hf when i could just call them. but thats not the point is it. anyway welcome, what repeater you on?