so i passed my technician exam about three weeks ago and just got my callsign last week, KD9 something something i wont bore you with it lol. been lurking on 2m for like 10 days just too nervous to key up and say anything. last night i finally just did it, called CQ on a local repeater and this guy came back to me and we had like a 5 minute ragchew about nothing really, signal reports, weather, that kind of thing. my voice was literally shaking the whole time. he was super patient and walked me through the whole exchange which was great. anyway just wanted to say hi to the community and yeah i know its not a big deal to most of you but it felt huge to me. planning to study for general pretty soon so i can get on HF because thats really where i want to be eventually. anyone else remember their first contact being terrifying

oh man yes absolutely remember mine, i kept forgetting to say my callsign at the end and the guy on the other end had to remind me twice. its one of those things where you know the procedure in your head but when youre actually doing it everything just goes blank. congrats on the first one though, it really does get easier fast. after like 5 or 6 contacts it starts feeling pretty natural. get that general ticket, 40m is waiting for you

welcome to the hobby. first QSO on a repeater is a good way to start, the locals are usually pretty forgiving. HF is a whole different animal when you get there but in a good way. took me about 3 months after my tech to upgrade and i wish id done it sooner honestly.