ok so ive been listening to HF a lot lately on my new radio and i keep hearing people say things like QSL and QTH and QRM and honestly i have no idea what most of them mean. i found a list online but there are like hundreds of them and i dont know which ones actually get used vs which ones are just historical or whatever. like do people really use all of those or is it just the common ones?

also i noticed on some of the digital modes people use even more abbreviations that arent Q codes, like 73 and stuff. is there like a standard reference for all of this or do you just kind of pick it up over time. feels like learning a whole other language on top of already learning radio

yeah it definitely feels overwhelming at first but honestly you only need maybe a dozen or so for everyday use. QTH is your location, QSL means confirmed or acknowledged (also the cards people send), QRM is interference from other stations, QRN is natural noise like static, QSB is when the signal fades in and out, QRP means low power operation, QRZ is basically "who's calling" and QSO is just a contact or conversation. those are the ones you'll hear constantly.

73 is just the old telegraph shorthand for best regards, its not actually a Q code but its everywhere in ham radio. 88 means love and kisses which you hear sometimes. most of the other stuff you'll pick up just from listening honestly, nobody sits down and memorizes the whole list. after a few months of being on the air it just starts to click

im kind of in the same boat as you, been licensed about 8 months and still catch myself having to look things up. one thing that helped me was just keeping a little cheat sheet next to the radio for the first few weeks. QRO means high power which is kind of the opposite of QRP, and QRT means you're shutting down or signing off. you'll hear people say "going QRT" when they're done for the night.

the digital modes have their own whole thing too like OM means old man which is just how guys refer to each other, and YL is young lady. not always accurate but thats just how it is lol. ARRL website has a decent list if you want something more complete than random google results