so ive been licensed for about 4 months now and every time i get on HF especially on CW or even just listening to SSB nets there are all these abbreviations flying around and i only know like 3 of them. QSL i get, QTH i figured out, and QRM i heard someone complain about once and looked it up. but then someone said something about QSB and QRN and QRP and honestly it just goes on forever. is there like a master list somewhere or do people just kind of pick these up over time? also whats the difference between 73 and 88 because i thought 73 was just goodbye but someone used 88 and i didnt want to ask on air and sound dumb

yeah you basically just pick them up over time honestly. the ones you really hear all the time are QRM which is interference from other stations, QRN is natural static like from lightning and storms, QSB is when your signal is fading in and out, QRP means low power operation like 5 watts or under, and QRO is the opposite running high power. QRZ is somebody asking who is calling them, you hear that constantly. QSY means moving to a different frequency. theres a full ITU list online somewhere but honestly half those codes you will never hear on the air. the ones i listed plus the ones you already know cover probably 90% of what you'll encounter on a normal day.

as for 73 vs 88 — 73 is best regards, basically your standard friendly goodbye, everybody uses it. 88 is love and kisses and its traditionally only sent to a woman or a close female friend. some people think its outdated or whatever but thats the traditional meaning so just stick with 73 unless you actually know the person well

oh man i had the same exact confusion when i started lol. one thing that helped me was just keeping a little cheat sheet next to the radio for the first few months. QRZ still trips me up sometimes when a pile up is going crazy and everyone is calling at once. also dont forget OM means old man which sounds rude but its just how guys refer to each other, and YL is young lady which again just tradition. and 55 means good luck which you dont hear super often but it does pop up. also de just means from in morse so like W1ABC de K5XYZ just means K5XYZ calling W1ABC basically