Forty-Five Q-Codes

Q codes pre-date much of radio history. They are a good example of a brevity code. These are not typical telegraphic codes which which encoded for privacy, and to reduce the number of characters with the end goal of reducing cost. Brevity codes function just to reduce length and increase speed usually for safety reasons. A S.O.S. message would be a perfect example of a brevity code.

The original Q codes began with a proposal at a 1906 conference in Berlin. They were created in1909, by the British government. It began with a handbook, the  Handbook for Wireless Telegraph Operators Working Installations licensed by His Majesty's Postmaster-General. It included the single paragraph of instruction which clearly predates their use internationally:

"The following list of abbreviations has been prepared for the use of British ships and coast stations licensed by the Postmaster-General on the lines of proposals made at the International Conference at Berlin in 1906. They may be used in communication between British coast stations and British ships or between British coast stations and foreign ships equipped with Marconi apparatus, but not at present between British coast stations and other foreign ships, or between British ships and foreign coast stations.  In the use of these abbreviations, the signal employed should be repeated three times. "

Because the Q codes eased communication between radio operators speaking different languages they were quickly adopted internationally. Informal use probably began earlier but international use was somewhat codified by 1912. A total of forty-five Q codes were codified by the Service Regulations that came with the third International Radiotelegraph Convention. It was held in London in 1912 and enacted in 1913. Each phrase can be a statement or a question and I include both below. The addition of the code ..--.. changed the code into a question. Those first codes are as follows:

CODE	Phrase	Query
QRA	Here the _______	What ship or coast station is that?
QRB	My distance is _______	What is your distance?
QRC	My bearing is ______	What is your bearing?
QRD	I am bound for ______	Where are you bound for?
QRF	I am bound from ______	Where are you bound from?
QRG	I belong to the ______ line	What line do you belong to?
QRH	My wave length is _____ metres	What is your wave length in meters?
QRJ	I have _____words to transmit	How many words have you to transmit?
QRK	Signals are satisfactory	How are signals ?
QRL	I am receiving badly	Are you receiving badly?
QRM	I am being interfered with	Are you being interfered with?
QRN	Atmospherics are very strong	Are atmospherics strong?
QRO	Increase your power	Shall I increase power?
QRQ	Transmit faster	Shall I transmit faster?
QRS	Transmit slower	Shall I transmit slower?
QRT	Stop transmitting	Shall I stop transmitting?
QRU	I have nothing for you	Have you anything for me?
QRV	All right now, everything is in order	Is everything in order?
QRW	Engaged.  Please do not interfere	Are you busy?
QRX	Stand by. I will call you when required	Shall I stand by?
QRY	Your turn will be number _____	When will be my turn?
QRZ	Your signals are weak	Are my signals weak?
QSA	Your signals are strong	Are my signals strong?
QSB	Your spark is bad	Is my spark bad?
QSC	Your spacing is bad	Is my spacing bad?
QSD	My time is ______	What is your time?
QSF	Transmission will be in alternate order	N/A
QSG	Transmission will be in seriesof 5 messages	N/A
QSH	Transmission will be in series of 10 messages	N/A
QSJ	Please give me your rate to ________	Do you want my rate to _______?

Although Q codes were created when radio was only capable of transmitting Morse Code, they continued to be used in the era of voice-transmission. It is interesting to note that to prevent confusion call signs are restricted in ways to avoid Q-code confusion.