so i passed my technician exam on tuesday and my callsign showed up in the ULS database like two days later which i wasnt expecting to happen that fast honestly. anyway i figured i'd just jump in and keyed up on the local repeater last night, said my callsign and that i was new and kind of just waited. guy came back to me within maybe 20 seconds, we talked for like 10 minutes about nothing really, his antenna setup, what radio i had, that kind of thing. i have a baofeng uv-5r which i know everyone has opinions about but it was $30 and it works. the whole thing felt weird and cool at the same time, like i kept second guessing whether i was doing the format right. he was really patient though. just wanted to share i guess, feels like a milestone even if it was just two people chatting on a repeater

congrats man, that first QSO feeling is something else. i remember mine, i was shaking a little on the PTT which is embarassing to admit but whatever. the baofeng is fine to start, dont let anyone give you grief about it. once you get the bug youll end up with a proper mobile rig soon enough anyway haha. welcome to the hobby

yeah the format stuff gets natural pretty quick, after a few weeks on the repeater you wont even think about it. my first contact was a complete mess, forgot to give my callsign at the end and the guy had to ask me to repeat it. we all start somewhere. whats the repeater you were on, local club machine?