okay so ive been listening to a lot of HF lately and people throw around all these QSL QRM QRN QRZ things constantly and i kind of get the gist from context but i dont really know what they all actually mean officially. like i know QSL has something to do with confirming a contact but then people also use it to mean like... a card? and QRZ seems to be what someone says when they want to know whos calling but ive also heard people use it at the start of a CQ call which seems weird. is there like a good way to learn all of these or is it just one of those things you pick up over time. also what about the non-Q abbreviations like 73 and 88 and stuff, where did those even come from

yeah the Q codes go way back to telegraph days, way before ham radio was even a thing. they were made so operators could communicate across language barriers quickly since you dont need to know how to say something in french or german if you can just send QTH and the other guy knows you mean location. most of the common ones you'll pick up pretty fast just from being on the air. QRM is interference from other stations, QRN is natural static and noise, QSB is when your signal is fading in and out which you hear a lot on HF, QTH is your location, QTR is the time, and yeah QRZ means whos calling me. people do sometimes misuse it a bit, like youll hear someone end a CQ with QRZ which technically isnt right but everyone knows what they mean so nobody really cares that much.

as for 73 thats just an old telegraph code meaning best regards, goes back to the 1800s honestly. 88 means love and kisses and is usually sent to women operators though some people have opinions about that one. there used to be a whole list of these numeric codes called the phillips code or something like that but most of them are totally forgotten now and only 73 and 88 really survived into modern ham radio use.

I was in the same boat when I started, the Q codes are honestly a bit overwhelming at first but you really do just absorb them over time. The ones you'll hear constantly on HF phone are QRM, QRN, QSB, QSL, QRZ, and QTH and once those click the rest kind of fall into place. I kept a little cheat sheet next to my radio for the first few months, no shame in that. The ARRL website has a decent list of them and so does the RSGB if you want something official to reference. 73 de whatever your callsign is is just how people sign off, you get used to it fast.