ok so ive been licensed for about 4 months now and i keep hearing people on the air say stuff like QSL and QRZ and i kind of figured those out from context but then someone told me to QSY and i had no idea what they meant and just kind of sat there like an idiot. i looked up a list online but there are like hundreds of these things and i cant tell which ones people actually use vs which ones are just historical or whatever. is there like a short list of the ones that actually matter for HF and maybe 2m? also people in the nets i join use a bunch of other abbreviations that arent Q codes i think, like 73 and 88 and OM and YL and stuff. are those in the same category or totally different

yeah the Q code thing is confusing at first because youre right, the full list is enormous and most of it comes from old maritime and commercial radio stuff that nobody uses anymore. for regular ham use you really only need maybe a dozen or so. QSL means confirmed or acknowledged, QRZ is who is calling me, QSY means change frequency, QRM is interference from other stations, QRN is interference from static or natural noise, QSB is fading signal, QRP means low power operation, QTH is your location. those are probably 80% of what youll hear on a typical HF net or during casual contacts.

the other stuff like 73 and 88 are just traditional ham radio shorthand, not Q codes. 73 means best regards and everybody uses it, 88 means love and kisses and is usually sent to a YL which means young lady even though it basically just means any female operator. OM is old man which sounds rude but its just how hams say fellow operator. none of this is formal its just tradition that goes back to the telegraph days honestly.

i was in the same boat not that long ago. the one that tripped me up was QRO, someone told me to go QRO and i thought it was a place lol. it just means increase power, opposite of QRP. also worth knowing QRT which means im shutting down or stop transmitting depending on context. you'll hear that at the end of nets a lot when the net control signs off.