so ive been licensed for about 3 months now and every time i get on HF or even listen to nets on 40m i hear all this shorthand and Q codes flying around and i honestly cant keep up. like i know QSL means like... confirmed? and QTH is location i think but then people say things like QRM and QRN and QSB and i have no idea which is which. and then theres stuff that isnt even Q codes, people say 73 and 88 and OM and YL and i just nod along pretending i understand whats going on lol. is there like a good way to learn all this or do you just kind of absorb it over time? i wrote some down in a notebook but theres so many and they all kind of blur together for me. also heard someone say QRP the other day and thought they meant a specific radio at first before someone told me it just means low power. anyway just wondering how other people got a handle on all this when they were new

yeah it takes a while honestly, dont stress about it too much. the ones you really need day to day are maybe a dozen at most. QRM is interference from other stations, QRN is interference from natural stuff like lightning static, QSB is when the signal is fading in and out, QRZ means whos calling or who is calling me, QTH yeah thats location, QSL is confirm or i confirm, QRT means im shutting down, QRX means standby, and QTH you already knew. QRP is low power and QRO is high power. honestly just listening is how most people learn it, after you hear QSB used in context like 20 times you just know it. i kept a little cheat sheet taped near my radio for the first year and theres no shame in that at all. the 73 thing just means best regards or goodbye basically, 88 is hugs and kisses and is only supposed to be used for female operators but some people use it for everyone which is whatever. OM means old man which sounds rude but its just a friendly term for a fellow male ham, YL is young lady but again people use it loosely. you'll pick it up faster than you think just by being on the air

im pretty new too, got my ticket about 8 months ago, and what helped me a lot was just downloading one of those Q code reference cards as a PDF and printing it out. also the ARRL has a decent list somewhere on their site. the ones that confused me forever were QRM vs QRN because both are interference but from different sources. QRM = man made, QRN = natural. once someone explained it that way it clicked. oh and people also use a lot of CW shorthand even in voice sometimes which is weird, like saying 73 out loud instead of just saying goodbye. some of the older guys also say things like PSE for please and TNX for thanks and UR for your and it can feel like a whole different language at first but you do get used to it