so i passed my technician exam last tuesday and just got my callsign assigned yesterday, KD9 something something i wont bore you with the whole thing. anyway i was so nervous to key up on the local 2m repeater but i did it this morning while driving to work and this older guy came back to me right away and we talked for like 10 minutes about nothing really, just signal reports and where i was located and stuff. honestly felt kind of surreal after studying all those questions for weeks. my HT is just a baofeng uv-5r which i know everyone has opinions about but it worked fine and the guy said my audio was decent so im happy. not sure what i do next honestly, maybe try to find a local club or something. just wanted to share because i feel like nobody in my regular life understands why this is a big deal lol

congrats on the first QSO man, that feeling never really goes away. i remember my first contact on HF years ago and i was shaking the whole time. the baofeng is fine to start with, dont let anyone give you grief about it. find that local club if you can, most of them have a net night once a week and people are genuinely happy to talk to new hams. also once you get comfortable on 2m you might want to look into getting your general so you can get on HF, thats where things really open up. but no rush, just enjoy where you are right now

same boat here, got mine like two months ago. the first time i keyed up i just froze and said my callsign wrong lol. it gets easier fast though. whats repeater are you using if you dont mind me asking