so ive been licensed for about 8 months now and i keep hearing people use all these weird abbreviations on the air and in forums and i honestly have no idea what half of them mean. like i know QSL means like... confirming contact? and QTH is location i think. but then people say stuff like QRM and QSB and QRP and i just kind of nod along and pretend i understand what theyre talking about.

is there like a master list somewhere or do you just kind of pick these up over time. also some guys on my local repeater use abbreviations that arent even Q codes i dont think, like they say 73 and 88 and stuff like that. are those Q codes too or something different entirely. sorry if this is a dumb question im still figuring all this out

not a dumb question at all, everyone goes through this. the Q codes go back to like pre-radio telegraph days and theres a ton of them but you really only need to know maybe a dozen or so for everyday use. QRM is interference from other stations, QRN is natural static noise, QSB is when your signal is fading up and down, QRP means low power operation (usually 5 watts or less), QRO is the opposite high power, QRZ means whos calling me or whos there, and QSY means change frequency. you'll hear those constantly.

and yeah 73 and 88 are not Q codes theyre just traditional numeric codes. 73 is best regards or best wishes, pretty much how everyone signs off. 88 means love and kisses and you mostly hear that between people who know each other well or sometimes between op couples. theres a whole old list of numeric codes like that but most of them have fallen out of use except 73 and occasionally 88. just keep listening and youll absorb it faster than you think, honestly the best way to learn is just get on the air and ask people when you dont understand something, most hams are happy to explain

QRP is my whole thing so i always notice when people dont know that one haha. also wanted to add that QSL can get confusing because it means both confirming a contact verbally on air AND the physical card you send through the mail or via bureau to confirm the contact officially. same code two kinda different uses depending on context. tripped me up early on too.

ARRL website has a decent reference page for Q codes if you just google arrl Q code list, thats where i went when i was starting out