so i've been lurking on this forum for like 3 months while studying for the technician exam and i finally passed it last tuesday. got my callsign a few days later and just spent the last hour nervously keying up on the 147.315 repeater in my area.

first transmission was pretty rough honestly, i forgot to wait for the courtesy tone and just started talking over someone finishing up a QSO. felt like an idiot but the guy i interrupted was super cool about it and we ended up chatting for about 20 minutes about his antenna setup. he's been licensed since the 80s and gave me a ton of advice.

anyway just wanted to share because i feel like i've been building up to this moment for months and it finally happened. now i'm trying to figure out if i should bother with HF right away or just hang out on VHF for a while first. my radio is just a baofeng uv-5r for now which i know everyone has opinions about lol

congrats on the ticket. dont stress too much about the courtesy tone thing, everyone does something like that when they first get on air. the old timers on most repeaters are pretty forgiving as long as you're not being obnoxious about it.

as for HF vs staying on VHF, thats really up to you but id say get comfortable with repeater etiquette first just so you have the basics down. HF is a whole different animal and theres a bit of a learning curve with propagation and everything. that said nothing wrong with jumping in early either, just get yourself a general upgrade when you feel ready and go from there. the baofeng will do fine for local stuff in the meantime

ha i did the exact same thing on my first day, keyed up right in the middle of someone else's exchange. mine was on a net too which made it even more awkward. welcome to the hobby though, it gets way less nerve wracking after the first few times