so i passed my technician exam on thursday and just got my callsign yesterday morning. spent like two days just listening on the local repeater trying to work up the nerve to actually key up. finally did it today during the afternoon net and some guy in Idaho came back to me. i was so nervous i forgot my grid square when he asked lol. anyway just wanted to say hi to everyone here, been lurking on this forum for a few months while i was studying. running a baofeng for now until i figure out what i actually want to get into

congrats and welcome. that first qso nervousness is real, everybody fumbles it a little the first time. dont sweat the grid square thing, half the time the other guy forgets stuff too. the baofeng is fine to start with, get comfortable on the repeaters and then figure out what direction you want to go. hf, digital, whatever. theres no rush

ha i did the exact same thing on my first contact, totally blanked on my signal report and just said thanks and dropped the mic. the guy was probably laughing. welcome to the hobby though, it gets way less scary after the first few times you key up