Codes and Alphabets

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CW Abbreviations

These abbreviations are commonly used in CW transmissions to shorten transmission times. Not all CW operators use all of them - most will use very few. As a general rule most operators do not abbreviate unnecessarily, especially when communication with an operator that they do not know or whose experience is unknown. In contest conditions, abbreviations are common as operators try to gain as many contacts as possible over the competition period.

CW Abbreviations

Abbreviation	Meaning	Abbreviation	Meaning
AA	All After	OB	Old Boy
AB	All Before	OC	Old Chap
ABT	About	OM	Old Man
ADEE	Adressee	OP	Operator
ADR	Adress	OPR	Operator
AGN	Again	OT	Old Timer
AM	Amplitude Modulation	PBL	Preamble
ANT	Antenna	PKG	Package
BCI	Broadcast Interference	PSE	Please
BCL	Broadcast listener	PT	Point
BCNU	Be seeing you	PWR	Power
BK	Break in	PX	Press
BN	Between, Been	R	Received, Are
BT	Separation	RC	Ragchew
BTR	Better	RCD	Received
Bug	Semi automatic key	RCVR	Reveiver
C	Yes, Correct	REF	Refer to
CFM	Confirm, I confirm	RFI	Radio Frequency Interference
CK	Check	RIG	Station Equipment
CKT	Circuit	RPT	Repeat, Report
CL	Closing Station, Call	RTTY	Radioteletype
CLBK	Callbook	RST	Readability Strength Tone
CLD	Called	RX	Receive, receiver
CLG	Calling	SASE	Self addressed stamped envelope
CNT	Cant	SED	Said
CONDX	Conditions	SEZ	Says
CQ	Calling any station	SGD	Signed
CU	See you	SIG	Signature, Signal
CUL	See you later	SINE	Personal initials or nickname
CUM	Come	SKED	Schedule
CW	Continuous Wave	SRI	Sorry
DA	day	SS	Sweepstakes
DE	From, From this	SSB	Single Sideband
DIFF	Difference	STN	Station
DLD & DLVD	Delivered	SUM	Some
DN	Down	SVC	Service
DR	Delivered	T	Zero
EL	Element	TFC	Traffic
ES & DX	Distance	TMW	Tomorrow
ES & FB	Fine Business	TKS & TNX	Thanks
FER	For	TR & TX	Transmit
FM	Frequency Modulation, From	T/R	Transmit/Receive
GA	Go ahead, Good afternoon	TRIX	Tricks
GB	Goodbye, God Bless	TT	That
GD	Good	TTS	That is
GE	Good evening	TU	Thankyou
GESS	Guess	TVI	Television interference
GG	Going	TX	Transmitter, Transmit
GG	Going	TXT	text
GM	Good Morning	U	You
GN	Good Night	UR	You're Your
GND	Ground	URS	Yours
GUD	Good	VFB	Very Fine Business
GV	Give	VFO	Variable Frequency Oscillator
HH	Error sending	VY	Very
HI	laugh, High	W	Watts
HR	Hear	WA	Word After
HV	Have	WD	Word
HW	How, Copy?	WDS	Words
IMI	Repeat, say again	WKD	Worked
LNG	long	WKG	Working
LTR	Later	WPM	Words per minute
LVG	Leaving	WRD	Word
MA & MILLS	Milliamperes	WX	Weather
MSG	Message	TXVR	Transceiver
N	No	XMTR	Transmitter
NCS	Net Control Station	XTL	Crystal
ND	Nothing Doing	XYL	Wife
NM	No More	YL	Young Lady
NR	Number	YR	Year
NW	Now , Resume transmission	73	Best Regards

Morse Code

International and American Morse Codes

Symbol	International	American
A	.-	.-
B	-...	-...
C	-.-.	..-.
D	-..	-..
E	.	.
F	..-.	.-.
G	--.	--.
H	....	....
I	..	..
J	.---	-.-.
K	-.-	-.-
L	.-..	----
M	--	--
N	-.	-.
O	---	.-.
P	.--.	.....
Q	--.-	..-.
R	.-.	.-..
S	...	...
T	-	-
U	..-	..-
V	...-	...-
W	.--	.--
X	-..-	.-..
Y	.-.-	..-..
Z	--..	....
1	.----	.--.
2	..---	..-..
3	...--	...-.
4	....-	....-
5	.....	---
6	-....	.....
7	--...	--..
8	---..	-....
9	----.	-..-
0	-----	-----

Phonetic Alphabet - Nato

A number of phonetic alphabets exist. the nato version is most common and can be considered to be the "international" phonetic alphabet.

Letter	Code word	Pronunciation
A	Alfa	AL FAH
B	Bravo	BRAH VOH
C	Charlie	CHAR LEE
D	Delta	DELL TAH
E	Echo	ECK OH
F	Foxtrot	FOKS TROT
G	Golf	GOLF
H	Hotel	HO TELL
I	India	IN DEE AH
J	Juliett	JEW LEE ETT
K	Kilo	KEY LOH
L	Lima	LEE MAH
M	Mike	MIKE
N	November	NO VEM BER
O	Oscar	OSS CAH
P	Papa	PAH PAH
Q	Quebec	KEH BECK
R	Romeo	ROW ME OH
S	Sierra	SEE AIR RAH
T	Tango	TANG GO
U	Uniform	YOU NEE FORM
V	Victor	VIK TAH
W	Whiskey	WISS KEY
X	X-ray or Xray	ECKS RAY
Y	Yankee	YANG KEY
Z	Zulu	ZOO LOO
Number	Code word	Pronunciation
0	Zero	ZE RO
1	One	WUN
2	Two	TOO
3	Three	TREE
4	Four	FOW ER
5	Five	FIFE
6	Six	SIX
7	Seven	SEV EN
8	Eight	AIT
9	Nine	NIN ER

Q-Code

These codes were oringinally developed to shorten transmission times when using CW, but are frequently used in voice transmissions eg. I and going to go QRT, thanks for the QSO.

More information abut the history and usage of Q-codes can be found here.

Q Codes Commonly Used by Radio Amateurs

Code	Meaning	Sample use
QRG	Exact frequency	HE TX ON QRG 14205 kHz
QRI	Tone (T in the RST code)	UR QRI IS 9
QRK	Intelligibility (R in the RST code)	UR QRK IS 5
QRL	This frequency is busy.	Used almost exclusively with morse code, usually before transmitting on a new frequency
QRM	Man-made interference	ANOTHER QSO UP 2 kHz CAUSING LOT OF QRM
QRN	Natural interference, e.g. static crashes	BAND NOISY TODAY LOT OF QRN
QRO	Increase power	NEED QRO WHEN PROP POOR
QRP	decrease power	QRP TO 5 W
QRQ	Send faster	TIME SHORT PSE QRQ
QRR	temporarily unavailable/away, please wait	WILL BE QRR 30 MIN = THAT STN IS QRR NW
QRRR	Distress	Distress call recommended by ARRL
QRS	Send slower	PSE QRS NEW TO CW
QRT	Stop sending	ENJOYED TALKING 2 U = MUST QRT FER DINNER NW
QRU	Have you anything for me?	QRU? ABOUT TO QRT
QRV	I am ready	WL U BE QRV IN UPCOMING CONTEST?
QRX	will call you again	QRX @ 1500H
QRZ	You are being called by ________.	QRZ? UR VY WEAK (Only someone who has previously called should reply)
QSA	Signal strength	UR QSA IS 5
QSB	Fading of signal	THERE IS QSB ON UR SIG
QSD	Your keying is defective	QSD CK YR TX
QSK	Break-in	I CAN HR U DURING MY SIGS PSE QSK
QSL	I Acknowledge receipt	QSL UR LAST TX = PSE QSL VIA BURO (i.e. please send me a card confirming this contact).
QSM	Repeat last message	QRM DROWNED UR LAST MSG OUT = PSE QSM
QSN	I heard you	QSN YESTERDAY ON 7005 kHz
QSO	A conversation	TNX QSO 73
QSP	Relay	PSE QSP THIS MSG TO MY FRIEND
QST	General call to all stations	QST: QRG ALLOCS HV CHGD
QSX	I am listening on ... frequency	QSX 14200 TO 14210 kHz
QSY	Shift to transmit on ...	LETS QSY UP 5 kHz
QTA	Disregard last message	QTA, DID NOT MEAN THAT
QTC	Traffic	STN WID EMRG QTC PSE GA
QTH	Location	QTH IS SOUTH PARK CO
QTR	Exact time	QTR IS 2000 Z

RSQ code

Often used to describe reception and quality of digital modes such as PSK31

RSQ Code Commonly Used by Radio Amateurs

Number	R - Readability	S - Strength	V - Quality
1	0% copy - undecipherable	barely perceptible trace	splatter over much of the spectrum
2	20% copy -occasional words distinguishable	not used	not used
3	40% copy - readable with difficulty, many missed characters	Weak trace	multiple visible pairs
4	80% copy - Readable with no difficulty	not used	not used
5	95%+ copy - Perfectly readable	Moderate trace	One easily visible pair
6	not used	noy used	not used
7	not used	Strong Trace	One barely visible pair
8	not used	not used	not used
9	not used	Very strong trace	Clean signal - no visible unwanted sidebars

RST code

RST Code Commonly Used by Radio Amateurs

Number	R - Readability	S - Strength	T - Tone
1	Unreadable	Faint signal, barely perceptible	Sixty cycle a.c or less, very rough and broad
2	Barely readable, occasional words distinguishable	Very Weak	Very rough a.c., very harsh and broad
3	Readable with considerable difficulty	Weak	Rough a.c. tone, rectified but not filtered
4	Readable with practically no difficulty	Fair	Rough note, some trace of filteringfrequency
5	Perfectly readable	Fairly Good	Filtered rectified a.c. but strongly ripple-modulated
6	not used	Good	Filtered tone, definite trace of ripple modulation
7	not used	Moderately Strong	Near pure tone, trace of ripple modulation
8	not used	Strong	Near perfect tone, slight trace of modulation
9	not used	Very strong signals	Perfect tone, no trace of ripple or modulation of any kind

RSV code for SSTV transmissions

RSV Code Commonly Used by Radio Amateurs

Number	R - Readability	S - Strength	V - Video
1	Unreadable	Faint signal, barely perceptible	Picture unreadable
2	Barely readable	Very Weak	picture barely visible
3	Readable with difficulty	Weak	Readable with flaws
4	Readable with no difficulty	Fair	Very good picture some flaws
5	Perfectly readable	Fairly Good	Perfect picture no flaws
6	not used	Good	not used
7	not used	Moderately Strong	not used
8	not used	Strong	not used
9	not used	Very strong signals	not used