so ive been listening to a lot of HF lately and everyone keeps throwing around all these Q codes and abbreviations and i can barely keep up. like i know QSL means like... acknowledgement or like confirming a contact? and QTH is your location i think. but then people say stuff like QRM and QRN and QSB and i have no idea whats going on half the time. is there like a standard list somewhere or do people just kind of pick them up over time. also sometimes i see people write 73 and 88 at the end of messages, i figured 73 is like goodbye or good luck but what is 88 exactly. just trying to get my bearings here, just passed my tech a few weeks ago so still very new to all of this

yeah you basically got QSL and QTH right. QRM is interference from other stations, like man-made noise, and QRN is natural static, like lightning crashes and that kind of thing. QSB is when your signal is fading in and out, which happens a lot on HF depending on propagation. there are a ton of them honestly, the original Q codes came from maritime and commercial telegraphy way back before ham radio was even a thing, so some of them are a bit weird out of context.

73 means best regards, pretty much used as a friendly sign-off between hams everywhere. 88 means love and kisses, traditionally only sent to or from female operators but honestly nowadays people use it however they want. you'll also see stuff like 55 sometimes which is supposed to be good luck to new hams specifically but i barely ever hear that one anymore.

honestly the fastest way to learn them is just to keep listening and look them up when you hear something new. ARRL has a reference list, and there are a bunch of phone apps too if you want something quick to pull up on the radio. after a few months it'll just start clicking naturally.

QRP is another big one you'll hear a lot — means low power operation, like 5 watts or less. people get really into that. and QSY means you're changing frequency. oh and QRZ is basically "who is calling me" but on repeaters and pile-ups people use it kind of loosely to mean like "go ahead" or "next caller" which is technically wrong but thats just how it is now lol

dont stress too much about memorizing all of them at once, i was in the same spot when i started and it honestly just comes with time