so i passed my technician exam last tuesday and been lurking on the 147.xxx repeater in my area just listening for like 5 days trying to get the nerve up to actually key up. finally did it this morning just said my callsign and that i was new and honestly wasnt sure what to expect

got like 3 people come back to me right away which was cool but also kind of overwhelming because i didnt really know what to say after that lol. one guy was super patient and walked me through a basic qso and told me to not worry about messing up the format. ended up talking to him for maybe 10 minutes about my HT and where i live

anyway just wanted to share that because ive been nervous about it for days and it ended up being totally fine. if anyone else is on the fence about jumping in just do it

congrats on the ticket and the first qso, that feeling of finally keying up for the first time is something you dont forget. i remember sitting there with my radio for like an hour before i actually did it and then felt dumb for being so nervous about it afterwards

the local repeater crowd is usually pretty welcoming, sounds like you found a good one. once you get comfortable on there you might want to look into getting your general and getting on HF, whole different world down there

same thing happend to me like 3 months ago haha, i was shaking a little when i first keyed up which is embarassing to admit but whatever. the guys on our repeater were really cool about it too. what HT did you end up getting?