Listen to a QSO for thirty seconds and you’ll hear a stream of two- and three-letter shorthand that sounds like a different language. It mostly is — a mix of Q-codes, CW abbreviations and phonetic spelling built up over more than a century of amateur radio, and it’s used just as much on voice as on Morse. Here’s what it all means.
Q-codes
Q-codes originated as an international telegraph shorthand agreed at the 1912 London Radiotelegraph Convention, decades before amateur radio existed in its current form. Each one can be a question or a statement depending on context — “QRZ?” asks who’s calling, while “QRZ” states who was calling. Hams use a fairly small, well-worn subset on the air:
- QRZ — Who is calling me? / You are being called.
- QRM — Is my transmission being interfered with? / You are being interfered with (man-made interference — other signals).
- QRN — Are you troubled by static? / I am troubled by static (natural noise — atmospherics).
- QSY — Change to transmission on another frequency.
- QTH — What is your location? / My location is …
- QSL — Can you acknowledge receipt? / I acknowledge receipt (also used loosely to mean “understood,” and as a noun for a confirmation card).
- QRP — Reduce power (also used as a noun/adjective for low-power operating, conventionally 5W or less on HF).
- QRO — Increase power (the opposite of QRP — high-power operating).
- QSB — Your signal is fading.
- QRT — Stop transmitting / I am closing my station.
- QRX — I will call you again / Please stand by.
- QSO — A contact/conversation between two stations (also used as a noun: “let’s have a QSO”).
- QRV — Are you ready? / I am ready.
- QRG — What is my exact frequency? / Your exact frequency is …
- QSK — Full break-in CW operating — able to hear between dits and dahs.
The RST signal report
When two stations make contact, they exchange a signal report — how well they’re receiving each other. RST stands for Readability, Strength and Tone:
- Readability (1–5): how understandable the signal is, from 1 (unreadable) to 5 (perfectly readable).
- Strength (1–9): how strong the signal is, roughly matching the receiver’s S-meter, from 1 (faint) to 9 (very strong).
- Tone (1–9, CW only): the purity of a Morse signal’s note — 9 is a pure, clean tone. Not used on voice modes.
A solid CW contact gets a “599” report; on voice, where tone doesn’t apply, you’ll just hear “you’re five nine” (readability and strength only).
On-air abbreviations and slang
- 73 — Best regards (a traditional sign-off, singular even though it looks plural: “73” not “73s”).
- 88 — Love and kisses (traditionally used when signing to or from a female operator).
- OM — Old man (a friendly, generic term for a fellow male operator, regardless of actual age).
- YL — Young lady (a female operator).
- XYL — “Ex-YL” — an operator’s wife.
- HI — Laughter — the CW equivalent of “haha,” from the rhythm of the Morse characters.
- FB — Fine business — great, excellent.
- TNX / PSE — Thanks / please.
- CQ — A general call to any station (“seek you”) — not strictly a Q-code, but used the same way.
- DX — A distant station or long-distance contact, often across a continent or ocean.
- RIG / SHACK — Your radio equipment / the room or space where it lives.
- ELMER — An experienced ham who mentors a newcomer — a term that’s stuck in the hobby since the 1970s.
- RAGCHEW — A long, informal conversation, as opposed to a quick contact.
- LID — An operator with poor on-air technique or etiquette (not a flattering term).
- /P and /M — Callsign suffixes for portable and mobile operation, e.g.
MI0ABC/P.
The phonetic alphabet
To spell callsigns and words clearly over a noisy or weak signal, hams use the same NATO/ITU phonetic alphabet as aviation and maritime radio:
Alfa · Bravo · Charlie · Delta · Echo · Foxtrot · Golf · Hotel · India · Juliett · Kilo · Lima · Mike · November · Oscar · Papa · Quebec · Romeo · Sierra · Tango · Uniform · Victor · Whiskey · X-ray · Yankee · Zulu.
You’ll also hear informal, non-standard substitutes in casual ragchews, but sticking to the standard set is always clearest — especially when a contact is weak or you’re both dealing with QRM.