ok so ive been licensed for about 3 months now (tech, studying for general) and i keep hearing people on the air and in forums use stuff like QSL, QTH, QRM and a bunch of others and i kind of piece together what they mean from context but i dont actually know most of them. like QSL i think means like... confirmed? and QTH is location? but then theres QSB and QRN and QRZ and honestly i have no idea where to even start. is there like a standard list somewhere or do people just memorize them over time. also are there other abbreviations that arent Q codes that i should know, because people say things like 73 and i figured out that means goodbye basically but then someone said 88 to someone else and i have no idea what that one is. and whats the deal with using these on digital modes vs voice, do people actually say the letters out loud on SSB or is it more of a CW thing

yeah so Q codes go back to like the early 1900s, they were originally used in maritime and commercial telegraphy so operators could communicate across language barriers without needing to share a common language. every Q code is technically a question when you send it alone, and an answer or statement when you add a response. like QTH? means "what is your location" and QTH is "my location is..." — most people on voice just use them as shorthand and drop the question format though.

the ones you'll hear constantly are QTH (location), QSL (confirm/acknowledge, also the cards people trade), QRM (man-made interference, other stations), QRN (natural noise, static from weather etc), QSB (signal fading), QRZ (who is calling me, you'll hear this a lot when someone finishes a transmission and wants to know who else is out there), QRP (low power operation, usually 5 watts or under), and QSY which means change frequency. theres a ton more but those are the daily drivers.

73 means best regards, comes from old telegraph codes too. 88 is hugs and kisses, you'll mostly hear it between people who know each other well, sometimes between married ops or close friends. there are other number codes like 55 which is good luck but that one you almost never hear anymore. and yeah people absolutely say Q codes out loud on SSB, totally normal, nobody thinks twice about it.

i was in the same boat when i started lol. honestly i just kept a notepad next to my radio for the first few months and wrote down anything i didnt recognize and looked it up later. the ARRL website has a decent list and theres a few pocket reference cards you can print out. i still dont know all of them and ive been licensed like two years now, but the common ones you pick up pretty fast just from being on the air. QRZ.com also has a glossary i think if you want to look stuff up quick.