ok so ive been listening to a lot of HF lately and people are throwing around all these abbreviations and Q codes and i can only figure out like half of them from context. like i get QSL means confirming receipt and QTH is your location but then someone said QRM and QRN and i wasnt sure if those were the same thing or different. and whats the deal with 73 and 88, are those Q codes too or something else entirely

also heard someone say QRP and assumed it meant they had a weak signal but then someone else used it to describe their radio setup so now im even more confused. is there like a master list somewhere or do people just kind of pick these up over time. been licensed about 4 months, tech currently studying for general

QRM and QRN are definitely different things even though they sound similar and i mixed them up for a long time too. QRM is interference from other stations or man made noise, like if someones signal is stomping on yours thats QRM. QRN is natural static, like lightning crashes or atmospheric noise. so if youre in a thunderstorm and the bands are full of crashes thats QRN, if your neighbor fires up some device that wipes out your reception thats QRM.

QRP just means low power, like 5 watts or under typically. some people run QRP as a whole operating style and are pretty passionate about it, building tiny rigs and making contacts with almost nothing. its not about signal quality its about transmit power.

73 and 88 arent Q codes at all, theyre what they call prosigns or just traditional abbreviations. 73 means best regards basically, everyone uses it. 88 means love and kisses and is usually used between operators who know each other well or sometimes sent to a YL which is a female operator. old telegraph codes from way back, not ITU Q codes.

there is a master list, the ITU publishes it and you can find it all over but honestly you just absorb most of them by listening. the common ones come pretty fast

yeah i was in the same boat not too long ago lol. one that got me was QSB, thats fading, like when a signal fades in and out. and QSY means change frequency. those two come up a lot. honestly just spending time listening to nets helped me more than any chart