okay so i just got my technician license a few weeks ago and ive been listening on the local repeater and also tuning around HF a bit and people are throwing around all these weird codes and shortened words and i have no idea what half of it means. like i hear QSL, QRM, QSY, 73, 88, and then on CW its even worse obviously. is there like a standard list somewhere or do people just kind of pick this stuff up over time? i wrote down a few things i heard and looked them up but im not sure im getting the right meanings because some of them seem to have like an official ITU meaning and then a slightly different way people actually use them on air which is confusing

yeah the Q codes go back to like the early days of telegraphy and most of them were originally for maritime radio, so some of the official meanings sound a bit weird or formal compared to how hams actually use em. QSL officially means something like 'I confirm receipt' but in practice people say it to mean they got a card from someone or just to confirm a contact went through. QRM is interference from other stations, QRN is natural static and noise, QSY means change frequency. 73 is just 'best regards' basically, been used forever. 88 is 'love and kisses' which some people think is kinda outdated now but you still hear it. ARRL has a good list on their website and there's also a little reference card floating around as a PDF if you search for it. honestly you just pick most of it up, dont stress about memorizing everything at once.

the one that got me for the longest time was QRP, people say it like its a whole thing, QRP operation, QRP rigs etc but technically it just means low power. and then you got stuff that isnt even really Q codes, like OM means old man which sounds rude but its just how you adress another guy on air, YL is young lady. XYL is someones wife lol. theres also a ton of CW shorthand that bleeds into SSB like UR for 'your' and ES for 'and' and stuff like that. its a whole little language honestly. dont worry you'll get it pretty fast once you start actually making contacts instead of just listening