so ive been listening on HF for a few weeks now and i keep seeing people write things like QSL and QRZ and QTH in logs and online and i honestly have no idea what half of them mean. i found a list somewhere but it was like 100+ codes and i cant tell which ones people actually use vs which ones are just historical or whatever. like do people still use all of them or just a handful. also whats the difference between using them on voice vs CW because i heard someone say you dont say the actual Q code out loud on SSB but then i heard someone do exactly that so im confused

also seeing abbreviations that arent Q codes at all like 73 and 88 and stuff, are those part of the same system or totally separate thing

yeah the list of Q codes is huge but honestly in day to day operating you really only run into maybe 20 or 30 of them with any regularity. the ones you absolutely need to know starting out are QSL (i confirm / do you confirm), QRZ (who is calling me), QTH (my location is), QRM (interference from other stations), QRN (static/natural interference), QSY (change frequency), and QRT (stopping transmission / closing station). those will cover probably 80% of what you hear.

on the voice vs CW thing, youre right that its a bit inconsistent in practice. technically Q codes came from CW operating and on phone you would say the plain english meaning instead, like saying my location is instead of QTH. but tons of people just say QTH and QSL out loud on SSB and nobody really cares, its just become part of the hobby language at this point.

73 and 88 are separate, theyre just traditional number codes, 73 means best regards basically and 88 is love and kisses which you only really hear between close friends. theyre not Q codes but theyve been around just as long.

i was exactly where you are like 6 months ago lol. what helped me was just writing down the ones i actually heard during a session and looking those up rather than trying to memorize the whole list. QRM got drilled into me real fast because every time i tried to make a contact there was QRM ha. also QSB which means signal fading, youll hear that one a lot on 40m especially in the evenings. dont stress about learning them all at once just pick them up as you go