so ive been listening to a lot of HF lately and people throw around QSL, QRM, QSY and a bunch of others constantly and i kind of know what they mean from context but not really. like i know QSL is confirm or something and QSY is change frequency but what about all the others. is there a standard list somewhere or do people just kind of use whatever. also are there some that are more common than others because i feel like i hear QRN a lot but never looked it up. just trying not to sound like a complete idiot when i finally get on the air

yeah there's a full ITU list but honestly for ham use you only really need maybe a dozen or so in regular rotation. QSL is acknowledge/confirm, QRM is interference from other stations (man-made), QRN is natural noise like static from storms, QSY is move to another frequency, QRZ is who is calling me, QTH is your location, QRP is low power, and QSB is fading. those alone will cover probably 90% of what you hear on HF. QRO is the opposite of QRP, high power. oh and QRX means standby or wait a minute basically. the Q codes go back way before ham radio, they were originally for maritime and commercial telegraph use so theres a ton of obscure ones nobody ever uses. just pick up a copy of the ARRL handbook if you want the full list, its in there, but dont stress about memorizing all of them at once.

73 is technically not a Q code but people always lump it in with that stuff, means best regards or best wishes. and 88 is love and kisses which you hear occasionally. also some guys use abbreviations like OM (old man, just means fellow ham), YL for younger or any female operator, XYL is wife. its a whole vocabulary honestly. took me a few months of just listening before it all clicked. dont worry about it too much, context fills in the gaps pretty fast once you start actually making contacts