so i finally got my ticket after studying for like 3 weeks and i was so pumped to get on the air. borrowed my buddy's baofeng until my radio order comes in and jumped on the local 2m repeater last night around 7pm. i totally froze when someone came back to me, forgot my callsign twice, and i think i stepped on somebody elses transmission at some point. the guy who answered me was super patient though and we actually talked for maybe 10 minutes about nothing in particular. he asked where i was located and what got me into ham radio and it was honestly just a really normal conversation which i wasnt expecting. anyway just wanted to share because ive been lurking here for months reading about this stuff and its way different actually doing it. also what do you guys do when you cant remember if the repeater is still open or if someone else is about to key up, i keep second guessing myself

haha yeah the first time on a repeater is always a little rough, dont sweat it. i remember i gave my callsign in the wrong place like three times before i just gave up and let the other guy run the conversation. honestly after a few weeks it just becomes muscle memory. the pause thing — i usually wait a beat or two after the squelch tail before i key up, gives people a chance to break in if they need to. your local club probably has a net you can check into too, thats actually how i really got comfortable because everyone kinda knows its a structured thing and the net control keeps it moving so theres less dead air awkwardness

welcome to the hobby man. i got my license like 8 months ago and i still mess up on the repeater sometimes so dont worry about it. the guys on most repeaters have seen it a hundred times and dont care. what radio did you order if you dont mind me asking