ok so ive been listening on HF for about 3 weeks now and people are throwing around all these weird abbreviations constantly and i can only figure out some of them from context. like i know QSO is a contact and QTH is your location but then someone said QRM and i thought that was the same as QRN but apparently not? and then theres stuff like 73 and 88 which arent even Q codes i guess and people use them at the end of every conversation.

is there like a standard list somewhere or do people just kind of learn these over time by listening. also someone on 40m last night kept saying QSB and i still dont know what that means. feels like theres a whole language i dont know yet

yeah it definitely feels like a secret language at first lol. QRM is interference from other stations, like someone transmitting on or near your frequency, whereas QRN is natural static and noise, like lightning crashes or whatever. QSB is fading, so when a signal keeps going up and down in strength thats QSB. you'll start picking them up fast once you hear them in context enough times.

73 means best regards, its just a traditional sign off that goes way back to telegraph days. 88 is love and kisses and its usually only used between certain folks, you'll figure out the vibe around that one pretty quick. ARRL has a decent list on their site if you want to look up the less common ones, but honestly just listening is how most of us learned the bulk of it. after a few months it becomes second nature and you stop even thinking about it

QSB got me too when i started. still sometimes forget what QRP means in the moment even though i know it perfectly well when im not on the air, brains weird like that. one that tripped me up for ages was QRZ, people use it to ask whos calling but ive also heard it used as basically just a general call which i dont think is technically right but whatever, language evolves i guess