ok so ive been listening on HF for a few weeks now and everyone is throwing around all these short codes and i cant figure out half of what people are saying. like QSL, QRM, QTH, 73 -- i get that 73 means goodbye basically but what about everything else. also saw someone type "OM" in a forum post and wasnt sure if that was a name or something. is there like a master list somewhere or do you just kind of pick it up over time. i feel like im missing half the conversation honestly

yeah the Q codes go way back, like telegraph era stuff, so theres a lot of them. the ones you'll hear most on HF are QSL which just means confirmed or acknowledged, QRM is interference from other stations, QRN is natural static/noise, QTH is your location, QRZ means who is calling me, and QSY means change frequency. OM just means old man, its how hams refer to other male hams, not rude at all, its kind of a term of respect in a weird way. YL is young lady for female operators. there IS an official ITU list of all the Q codes but honestly you dont need to memorize all of them, just learn the 10-15 common ones and you'll follow most conversations fine. 73 is best regards basically, and 88 is love and kisses which you mostly hear people send to YLs. oh and if someone says QRO they want more power, QRP means low power operation which is a whole hobby unto itself.

i was totally lost when i started too, dont worry about it. took me maybe a month or two before i stopped having to look stuff up constantly. one thing that helped me was just keeping a little notepad next to the radio and writing down anything i didnt recognize and then looking it up after. you also start hearing patterns after a while, like anything starting with QR usually has something to do with signal problems or interference. QRO/QRP is power level stuff. Q codes starting with QS are more about listening and schedules. anyway you'll get it, just takes time on the air