Decoding Jargon for Beginners: the Lingo of Ham Radio

Some of the language used in ham radio can be really confusing! Time to bust that jargon for the new (or soon to be new) ham!
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[@ohaya1]

When I was studying for my Foundation license I was initially confused about HF being reffered to as 'Shortwave' when we were being told that HF wavelengths were quite long compared to VHF and UHF. I later found out that when the term 'Shortwave' was coined, those wavelengths were considered relatively short at the time.

[@G5STU]

Nice one Jonathan, I'm now going to QSY to the kitchen for a cup of tea, QSL

[@M0JSX]

Roger!

[@markramsay6399]

Nice , simple and very useful video, Jonathan. I have more or less all of these on a chart on the wall - don't need it now, but when I started I was looking at it all the time - "Good copy, a bit of QS Baker" - what the?!! Then I look at the chart .. Ah ! Mark. 2E0MSR

[@ToiToiTrimmer]

Cheers Jonathan, another great vid. Keep up the good work.

[@Drpepper99uk]

Great video Jonathan, I wished there was a video like this around when i started off on HF radio.....took a good while to work out what was what from hearing it said little and sometimes often. Amusingly you slipped in the abbreviation POTA within this video 😂😉👍🏻

[@M0JSX]

I have to save something for a future video! 😉

[@Ploggy.]

Thank you for this Jonathan it is really helpful 73 👍

[@_MisterG]

My daughter claims QRT stands for Quiet Radio Time!

[@M0JSX]

I like it!

[@pcfreak1992]

QSL is also used when referring to physical postcards a.k.a. “QSL cards”. These are cards that people send each other via post mail (and more often electronically these days) to confirm a (rare/hard to get) QSO they had. Other Q-codes that are commonly used are QRP and QRO meaning low power and high power respectively and QRV meaning ready/available, like for example when they say “I built a new antenna, so I am now finally QRV on 6m as well” after they built their first antenna for 6m.

[@M0JSX]

Thanks. Yes there are tons more which I didn’t include! I’ll be sure to do a follow up video with more in! 73!

[@G_C340]

QRZ = "anybody else?"

[@Pedro8k]

This and a whole lot more is missing now it is all done online

[@MachiningandMicrowaves]

For 50 years I've been begging folk to use simple plain language when the contact is easily readable so we don't sound like a bunch of weirdies taking gibberish. Q-codes are fine in Morse to save time, but good grief the over-use of abbreviations and codes in voice conversations feels like deliberate gatekeeping and exclusion. Some exceptions are in contest operations, where saving half a second matters, on satellites where there's limited time during a pass, with overseas operators who don't speak the same language as you, and with stations in remote locations where 50,000 folks want to make a brief contact with an "expedition" for nerdy stamp-collecting/trainspotting purposes. Now THAT's a weird activity, but hey, no kink-shaming here! The other common usage is for highly structured messages using in extreme weak-signal work, where there's troposcatter scintillation, rapid fading, or pulsing interference, or in modes like meteorscatter, aircraft scatter, rainscatter and auroral curtain reflection, or just extreme low power work, where I might send just a signal report repeated over and over ('scuse pun!) for 30 seconds on a strict timescale, or the same with "Roger". Reducing the variable element of what the other station expects to hear in terms of very simple abbreviated speech is a huge help when you maybe hear one syllable out of 20. Great explanation of the weird and stilted way some ops speak, but I think we need to challenge it and just talk using ordinary language where the channel is clear and we have a common language with the other station. Neil G4DBN

[@g4lmn-ron401]

The jargon is confusing. You used POTA in the video without explaining it, not a criticism at all, it's all too easy to use jargon to explain jargon with out explaining the jargon! I disagree about the band police, they will be up in arms for saying 73s.