so i passed my technician exam about three weeks ago and just got my callsign last thursday. been lurking on the local 2m repeater for a few days working up the nerve to actually key up and last night i just did it. said my callsign, somebody came back to me right away and we chatted for maybe 10 minutes about nothing really, just signal reports and weather and where i was located. but man it felt way more exciting than i expected it to. i dont know why i was so nervous, everyone on the repeater has been super welcoming. anyway just wanted to post somewhere because my wife is tired of hearing about it lol

haha that nervousness before your first QSO is totally real, i remember sitting with my hand on the PTT for like 20 minutes before i finally keyed up. its almost a rite of passage at this point. glad your local group was friendly, not every repeater crowd is like that honestly. you should try a simplex contact next if you havent, different vibe than going through a repeater

congrats, what radio did you end up getting? im still studying for my tech and trying to figure out what to start with