Amateur Radio Terms for the Beginner | Ham Radio Basics

Today we tackle terms and other jargon that can be quite prevalent in amateur radio. Today we discuss the topics below and will ask you to give us your thoughts on understanding and helping Amateur Radio terms for beginners in the hobby.

Lingo and acronyms
What lingo or acronyms did you not understand at first?

- POTA/SOTA
- USB, LSB, AM, FM, PSK
- Q codes (where to learn them), QSL, QRZ, QRT, QRO
- When someone says CQ
- Shack, holiday shacks or something else?
- OM, XYL, YL, SK
- What is 73 and why do we use it?
- When someone says you're 5/9 what is that?
- CTCSS(PL) tones
- APRS, WSPR, LoTW
+ more!

Ham Radio Glossary:

⏱️TIMESTAMPS⏱️
0:00 Amateur Radio Terms for the Beginner

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[mrmultimediaman]

The publication ACP-131(Communications Instructions Operating) used by most of the military services explains all "Q" and "Z" signals used in communications. My time in the US Navy (72-94) were used in teletype operations, but many were use in voice communications too.

[Dusty_Ham]

20:23 "What you've done is just disdainfully told me what I did was wrong. Welcome to the hobby"

I think that's the biggest thing a lot of new hams need to be aware of, and be helped instead of talked down to. Especially online, I have run into a lot of that and it was quite discouraging. It took me nearly 2 years to finally decide to get my license, and a big part of that was the way new hams can be treated online and sometimes over the radio. I have had many experiences still (unfortunately) where I have been told things like I shouldn't have the call sign I have because of what region of ZL I am in (ZL1 is the most common for my area, not ZL2 but I got my call sign because it was my father-in-laws call sign). I've been called out on my accent (American) nearly every time I've been on the local repeaters. I've been told my Baofeng isn't good enough and I should stay off the repeaters until I have something better, and I've had someone run CW over me when I talked on the repeaters.

That said, there have also been quite a few helpful people in the hobby as well. I now actively seek those people (usually youtubers to be honest) and engage with them instead of getting on the air as much as I would like. Lately I've been looking into FT8 and trying to come up with an inexpensive transceiver that I can use in my apartment for that, since it's a fun part of the hobby for me and I don't have to worry about being told I'm doing everything wrong.

Sorry for the rant, I think that just hit a particular point for me. Thank you for the videos, I greatly enjoy them! 73 de ZL.

[joeblow]

Looking forward to seeing your interview with VK3YE

[Nwladylaura]

It’s been 20 mins and I’m still hoping to learn something!