Q-Codes – NewHams.info (2024)

As mentioned way back in our Q-code topic, ham radio still uses many old telegraphy codes as shortcuts for longer terms. We have already discussed some of them: QRZ, QSL, QTH.

Sorry that we haven’t yet covered one of the most basic terms that a ham is likely to encounter: QSO. Officially the Q-code QSO means, “I can communicate with _ direct “. However, in common usage, it has become a noun meaning direct communication, or contact.

This use of QSO is so pervasive that it actually signifies a radio contact. Logbooks and reports will include a list of QSOs (contacts). So your logbook on QRZ will look like this:

And Logbook of The World (LoTW) will show QSOs like this:

Both examples above mention QSO three times, and the term abounds throughout ham radio, both verbally and in print. Other print and electronic logging tools will have similar features and reference QSOs. The author has also been thanked for the QSO after a long phone chat with another ham.

When pronouncing it you can say “cue-ess-oh”, or, more commonly, “cue-soh”. While it mainly applies to radio contact, a face to face meeting between hams is often called an “eyeball QSO” in yet another variant of ham-speak.

So what constitutes a QSO, anyway? Since it means contact, at minimum it would be an exchange of call signs over the air. You can log and confirm (QSL) that with appropriate mode, date and time to be a legal QSO. From the examples above you can see that minimum basic data in QRZ and LoTW , along with confirmations if the other station uses the same tools. In ham-speak you would say that you “worked” the other station/state/county/country.

More commonly, and many would say a requirement, you would exchange signal reports and log that as well. You may hear hams mention this as minimum QSO data– call sign and signal report, which is often all you get when working a rare DX station or during a contest.

Beyond this, many–if not most–hams will try to exchange names and location in their QSO, depending on mode. The popular digital mode FT8 permits only call sign, signal report and grid square; it does not have operator name included in the standard script.

Going beyond call sign, signal report, op name and location (QTH), the usual things included in a voice (phone) or Morse (CW) QSO are local weather, equipment (radio/antenna/power/mic/key), and then whatever the ops feel like exchanging (hobbies, how long a ham, pets). If confirmation is unclear, an exchange of QSL method may be included.

For more info and details, check out some interesting and useful web links below.

How to Talk to Someone Using Ham Radio

Example of the Art of the QSO – YouTube

Typical HF ham radio contact or QSO format

What is a QSO? How many types are there? Am I doing my QSO correctly?

Contact (amateur radio) – Wikipedia

Making your first QSO – Radio society of Great Britain

Ham Radio Q Codes

Old-timers are already familiar with it but new or prospective hams may not be aware of a wonderful online callsign reference called QRZ.

The ham radio brevity code QRZ means, “who is calling me?” if you’re not sure or didn’t catch their complete callsign.

QRZ is a very powerful and popular callsign database that is located at qrz.com The QRZ site takes its name from the Q-code question, who is calling me? It’s particularly useful to look up a fellow ham you’re having a QSO with or have heard about or met in person.

If they have a callsign, you can look up their FCC registered address, license class, license expiration, exact location including the important Maidenhead grid square and a map of their location with exact distance from your station. It’s also useful for learning their previous callsigns if they have changed from what the FCC originally assigned them.

If the other ham has added info about themselves, you can see photos of them and their equipment, a biography, specific interests or whatever else they choose to share, including an email address. Hams can also use QRZ as a contact log if they choose to do so.

The database is updated daily from the FCC main file so it’s up to date and accurate. You can search by call sign, partial call, name, address or grid locator. If you look yourself up on the map you can see all the hams in your immediate vicinity; you might be surprised at how many there are.

I like to use QRZ to put a face to the name of people who are on Emcomm nets, the local repeaters, or during my HF QSOs and know a little more about them.

The QRZ database includes international hams so if you want to look up call signs around the world you can do that, too. I found a distant relative fellow ham in Germany just by searching my family name.

By the way, QRZ is properly pronounced, “Cue Are Zed” as we learned in the post on how to pronounce the letter Z.

QRZ has at least one major competitor, HamCall, plus a copycat with the confusing name of QRZCQ.

Before personal computers and the internet became common, hams relied on large printed books to look up the name and address associated with a particular callsign. The main one was the Radio Amateur Callbook with the Pegasus (winged horse) mascot. It is still available on CD-ROM and/or USB memory stick. Old print copies can be found on eBay and Amazon.

So check out QRZ and start using it. I’m sure it will become a bookmarked browser favorite of yours.

Back in the ham-speak topic we noted that ham radio vocabulary includes plenty of jargon and lingo. As mentioned there, it is best to not use too much ham-speak on the air, since plain language is preferred for voice modes (phone) but in reality you still hear many code words and abbreviations being used.

You will run across many terms on the air as well as in books and magazines and perhaps in email that are cryptic to the new or prospective ham. To help you with this we will present the topic of Q-codes here.

The Q code (or Q-code) is a standardized collection of three-letter codes, all of which start with the letter Q, where each code has a particular meaning. These brevity codes were originally developed for commercial radiotelegraph use but were quickly adopted by amateur radio operators. Although Q codes were created when radio used Morse code exclusively, they continued to be employed after the introduction of voice transmissions. Some history on Q-codes can be found here and here and here.

Listed below are ten Q-codes the average ham is most likely to hear (in the author’s opinion), along with their meaning and common usage:

• QRM- Man-made interference, interference from other stations.
• QRN- Natural interference, typically static or crashing from thunderstorms.
• QRP- Low power transmit, generally 5W or less.
• QRT- Quitting; stopping transmission or shutting down station.
• QRZ- Who is calling me?
• QSB- Fading signal.
• QSL- I acknowledge receipt; also confirmation of contact.
• QSO- Conversation, radio contact and exchange.
• QSY- Change frequency.
• QTH- Location.

You should be familiar with at least these and perhaps some others as well. Comprehensive lists of Q-codes can be found here and here and here and here.

The main point here is not for you to learn Q-codes to use them, but to understand them when you inevitably hear them.

That’s all for now so 73 and I’ll be QRT.