so ive been studying for the technician exam for like two months and passed it last thursday, got my callsign showing up in the ULS on saturday morning and i was refreshing that page way too many times honestly. anyway today i just keyed up on a local 2m repeater kind of nervous and this guy came back to me, we talked for maybe 10 minutes about nothing really, weather, how long ive been licensed, he was in Columbus. it wasnt anything special but i dont know it felt like a big deal to me. just wanted to share i guess. now trying to figure out what to do next, been reading about HF but that feels like a whole different world

congrats on the first QSO, that feeling doesnt really go away even after years of doing this. my first contact was a disaster, i forgot to give my callsign at the end and the guy had to ask me twice lol. Columbus is a solid area for repeater activity too so youll probably hear a lot of traffic through there. HF is absolutely worth getting into when youre ready, general class isnt that much harder than tech and it opens everything up. dont rush it though, just enjoy where you are for a bit

nice, I did the same thing like 6 months ago. still mostly just doing 2m/70cm stuff but i picked up a cheap used IC-7300 and have been listening on 40m at night which is kind of addicting even if im not transmitting yet. welcome to the hobby or whatever theyre supposed to say