so i passed my technician exam last thursday and honestly wasnt expecting to pass on the first try, studied for about 3 weeks using hamstudyorg and a couple youtube videos. got my callsign in the system like 4 days later which i heard used to take way longer so that was cool.

anyway i borrowed a baofeng uv5r from my buddy who got me into this whole thing and managed to get into a local repeater last night. some guy came back to me and we talked for maybe 10 minutes about nothing in particular, i was so nervous i forgot to give my callsign at the end and had to key up again real quick. pretty sure i sounded like an idiot but he was really patient about it.

just wanted to introduce myself i guess. im in the midwest if that matters, planning to get a proper radio eventually but for now the baofeng is doing the job

welcome to the hobby, dont worry about the callsign thing everyone does that at least once. i forgot mine like three times during my first week on the air, the guy on the other end just laughed it off. you'll get into a rhythm pretty fast.

the baofeng is fine for getting started on repeaters honestly, people give it grief but it works. when you're ready to upgrade just lurk around here and ask questions, theres always someone who knows whats for sale locally or can point you toward something decent without spending a fortune

haha i did the exact same thing on my first qso, keyed up at the end and just said my callsign again like an awkward robot. passed my tech in march and ive been addicted ever since. started on the local repeater too and now im trying to figure out HF which is a whole other world apparently