so i finally passed my technician exam after studying for like 3 weeks and i was honestly terrified to key up for the first time. i have a baofeng uv-5r that my brother in law lent me and i'd been just listening for a couple days trying to figure out how everything worked. anyway there's a local repeater about 12 miles from my house and i heard someone having a qso and waited for a pause and just said my callsign and that i was new and looking for a contact.

the guy came back to me right away and we talked for maybe 10 minutes. turns out he was in wichita kansas which i thought was pretty cool even though i know thats not like dx or anything. he gave me a signal report and everything. im still kind of shaking lol. anyone else remember their first qso? does it get less nerve wracking

oh man yeah that nervousness never fully goes away honestly, at least not for me. i remember my first contact was on 2m simplex and i completely forgot my callsign for a second which was embarassing. you'll get comfortable real fast just keep getting on the air. the wichita guy probably loved it, elmers love talking to new folks. welcome to the hobby

congrats on the first qso. once you get hf privileges you'll see what nerves really feel like trying to break a pileup haha. enjoy the local repeaters for now, good way to learn the ropes before things get complicated