Useful Links
List of Ham Radio terms:
The basics:
This is, by far, nothing close to the amount of terms use in Ham
radio, however, these are some of the most used and ones you will
hear getting on the air for the first time.
All the most used terms in Alphabetical order:
| HAM Term | Meaning | How to Use |
|---|---|---|
| 73 | Best wishes, have a good one | 73, this is [your call sign] |
| Roger | Got it, understood | Roger that |
| Copy | Understand | Copy that |
| QSO | Conversation | I just had a QSO with another ham in my area |
| Clear | Good-bye / Off the air | This is [your call sign] clear |
| Mobile | Traveling | [Your call sign] mobile |
| Monitor | Listen | This is [your call sign] monitoring |
| QSY | Changing frequency | I am going to QSY over to '62 |
| Double | Talking simultaneously | You two doubled with each other |
| Step on | Talk over | I apologize, I stepped on you |
| PTT | Push-To-Talk | Push your PTT button to talk |
| HT | Handy Talkie | My radio is an HT |
| Rubber Duck | Stock antenna that usually comes with your HT radio | I'm using a rubber duck |
| Stand by | Wait / Pause | This is [your call sign] stand by |
| NET | On-Air Gathering | The NET is at noon |
| In and Out | Offline Check-In | This is, [your call sign], I am in and out |
| Elmer | Ham Radio Mentor | John is my Elmer |
| Final | Concluding Transmission | I'll be clear on your final |
| Kerchunk | Keying up silently | All I could hear is someone kerchunking |
| Picket Fencing | Fluttering transmission | Your signal is picket fencing |
| Ragchew | Shooting the breeze | We're just rag chewing right now |
| Shack | Your radio room | My shack is downstairs |
| Silent key / SK | Deceased Ham | My Dad is a silent key |
| Full Quieting | No background noise | You're full quieting in the repeater |
| Relay | Pass a Message | Could you please relay? |
| Key Up | Transmit | Key up when you are ready to speak |
| Unkey | Stop Transmitting | Release the PTT button |
| Ticket | Ham Radio License | When did you get your ticket |
73 -- Ham lingo for "best regards.":
Used on both phone and CW toward the end of a contact. The first
authentic use of 73 is in the publication The National Telegraph
Review and Operators' Guide, first published in April 1857.
At that time, 73 meant "My love to you!" In the National Telegraph
Convention, the numeral was changed to a friendly "word" between
operators.
In 1859, the Western Union Company set up the standard "92 Code." A
list of numerals from one to 92 was compiled to indicate a series of
prepared phrases for use by the operators on the wires. Here, in the
92 Code, 73 changes to "accept my compliments," which was in keeping
with the florid language of that era. Over the years from 1859 to
1900, the many manuals of telegraphy show variations of this
meaning.
Dodge's The Telegraph Instructor shows it merely as "compliments."
The Twentieth Century Manual of Railway and Commercial Telegraphy
defines it two ways, one listing as "my compliments to you;" but in
the glossary of abbreviations it is merely "compliments."
Theodore A. Edison's Telegraphy Self-Taught shows a return to
"accept my compliments." By 1908, however, a later edition of the
Dodge Manual gives us today's definition of "best regards" with a
backward look at the older meaning in another part of the work where
it also lists it as "compliments." "Best regards" has remained ever
since as the "put-it-down-in-black-and-white" meaning of 73 but it
has acquired overtones of much warmer meaning.
Today,
amateurs use it more in the manner that James Reid had intended that
it be used --a "friendly word between operators."