so i finally did it after like three months of studying on and off. passed the technician exam at the library club session yesterday and literally ran home to fire up the baofeng i already had sitting in a box. figured id just hop on the local 2m repeater and say hi or whatever.

well the first time i keyed up i forgot to say anything because i was so nervous and just let go of the ptt. then the second time i said my callsign wrong - said it backwards somehow, KD9 then the letters then realized halfway through i messed up. there was this long pause and then some guy came back to me and was super nice about it, walked me through the whole thing. ended up talking to him for like 20 minutes about antennas and stuff.

anyway just wanted to share because im sure im not the only one who completely choked on their first transmission. anyone else have a rough first QSO story

haha dont even worry about it, my first time on the air i hit the repeater and said my callsign then just went completely blank. forgot what i was even gonna say. just said 73 and dropped off. the guy who came back to me sounded confused but he was polite. took me like a week before i tried again.

once you get a few contacts under your belt it starts feeling way more natural. welcome to the hobby, congrats on passing

Welcome to the madness. Honestly the nervous first QSO thing is basically a rite of passage at this point, I dont think ive ever heard of someone who was totally smooth the first time. The elmers on most repeaters are used to it and genuinely love helping new hams get their footing - thats kind of the whole point of a local club repeater.

If you want to get more comfortable fast, try tuning into a local net and just listening for a few sessions before you check in. Gets you familiar with the flow before you have to actually transmit under pressure. Also maybe look into your local club if you havent already, makes a huge difference having people to ask dumb questions to in person.