so i just got my technician license like two months ago and ive been listening around on HF a bit (my uncle lets me use his rig sometimes) and i keep hearing people use all these weird codes, like QSL and QRM and QTH and stuff. i know QSL has something to do with confirming a contact because ive seen the cards but thats about it. is there like a master list somewhere or do people just kind of pick these up over time? also some guys on the repeater use abbreviations that arent even Q codes, like they say 73 at the end of everything and someone said OM to me which i guess means old man?? anyway just trying to figure out how to not sound completely clueless when i get on the air

yeah it can be a lot at first but you honestly just pick most of it up by listening. the Q codes go way back to maritime and telegraph days, thats why they all start with Q. the most common ones youll hear are QSO which is just a contact or conversation, QTH is your location, QRM is interference from other stations, QRN is natural static like from thunderstorms, QSB is when your signal is fading, and QRT means youre shutting down or signing off. QSY means changing frequency. there are like a hundred of these officially but realistically on the air most guys only use maybe a dozen regularly.

as for 73, that just means best regards, its been used since like the 1800s in morse telegraphy. OM literally does mean old man but its not really an insult, its just how hams refer to any other male operator, sort of like a friendly term. YL is young lady and XYL is ex-young lady which means wife. yeah ham radio has some old fashioned vocabulary lol. ARRL has a good reference page with the common ones if you just google ARRL Q codes, worth bookmarking.

73 tripped me up too when i first started, i kept thinking it was someones ID number or something. one thing that helped me was just making a little cheat sheet and keeping it next to the radio for a while. honestly after maybe a month of operating you wont even think about it anymore, they just become natural. oh and if someone sends you 88 thats love and kisses, usually used when talking to an YL operator, just so you know and arent confused when that comes up