so i finally did it, been meaning to get my license for like 3 years and just kept putting it off. passed the tech exam last tuesday with a 32/35 which i was pretty happy with honestly. borrowed a baofeng uv-5r from my buddy at work to get started while i figure out what i actually want to buy.

anyway today i made my first real contact on the local 2m repeater, talked to some guy named Larry for maybe 10 minutes about nothing in particular, just signal reports and weather basically but man it felt so much cooler than i expected. kept fumbling with the PTT button and i think i was stepping on his transmission a couple times but he was really patient about it. forgot to say my callsign like twice which was embarrassing but whatever, got through it.

just wanted to share i guess. anyone else remember their first QSO being kind of awkward and exciting at the same time

haha yeah my first QSO i completely blanked on phonetics mid-sentence, just said my call sign letters like i was reading a grocery list. the other op was nice about it though, most people on the repeaters around here are pretty welcoming to new folks. congrats on the license, 32/35 is solid. dont stress the baofeng thing, its fine for getting started on local repeaters, just maybe look at the programming before you accidentally transmit on something you shouldnt lol

welcome to the hobby. yeah first contacts are always a bit clunky, thats totally normal. Larry whoever he is probably remembered doing the same thing years ago. once you get comfortable on the repeater you might wanna look into getting your general class, opens up HF and thats where things get really interesting. working stations across the country or even dx with just a wire antenna is a whole different feeling than local vhf stuff. anyway good start, keep at it.