so i passed my technician exam last thursday and im still kind of in shock honestly. been lurking on this forum for maybe 6 months trying to understand everything before i jumped in. my elmers gonna help me set up a baofeng to start which i know everyone has opinions about lol but its what i can afford right now.

havent made my first QSO yet, a little nervous about keying up on a repeater for the first time. like what if i forget my callsign or say something dumb. anyway just wanted to say hi and that this community has already helped me a lot just from reading old threads

congrats on the ticket, welcome to the hobby. dont stress about the repeater thing, everyone fumbles their first transmission, i literally forgot to let go of the PTT button on my first ever contact and just breathed into the mic for like 5 seconds before someone came back to me. you'll be fine just jump in

The Baofeng is totally fine to start, ignore the gatekeeping. I used one for almost a year before I got my first real HT and honestly it did everything I needed for local stuff. Once you get comfortable on the repeater you'll wonder why you were ever nervous about it. My first QSO was so short and awkward but the other guy was really patient with me. Just say your callsign clearly and youll be good.