so i've been studying for like 3 months and passed my technician exam last thursday, got my callsign showing up in the FCC database yesterday morning and immediately went and found the local 2m repeater listed on repeaterbook. took me like an hour to figure out how to program the offset and tone into my baofeng (yes i know, everyone starts with a baofeng lol) but i finally got it and just keyed up and said my callsign and that i was a new ham looking to make a contact

some guy came back immediately, we talked for like 20 minutes, he's been licensed since the 80s and was super patient with me when i forgot proper procedure a couple times. honestly did not expect it to be that easy to just... talk to someone. anyway just wanted to share cause im pretty pumped about it

welcome to the hobby man, that first QSO feeling is something else. dont worry too much about forgetting procedure, everyone does at first and most folks on the repeater remember what it was like. once you get comfortable on 2m you should look into getting your general and playing around on HF, totally different experience talking to people hundreds of miles away with just a wire antenna

haha the baofeng rite of passage, we've all been there. congrats on the ticket. what repeater you on? im in the midwest if thats anywhere near you might hear you on the air sometime