[NJARC] Q signs of old

eugene at hertzmail.com eugene at hertzmail.com
Fri Apr 27 10:52:03 EDT 2007


Hello all,

I am designing a QSL card for myself and have been looking at old qsl
cards for inspiration. My interests are vintage equipment, so I am
looking to make a qsl card that looks vintage.

While browsing some old cards from the 20's and 30's, I noticed that
they used some Q codes that seemed to no longer have the meaning they
had back then, and some Q codes I can't figure out what they meant?! So
I thought I'd tap the collective wisdom of the group.  Here goes.

Today, we use RST (or RS) to report signals. Back then, I often saw the
following:  Audibility_R-9_____   Tone______ QRH____
QRM____QRN____QSS___ QSA___

Audibility and tone would seem to be R and T. QRM and QRN is still in
popular use today.  What is QRH, QSS and QSA? According to some current
Q-code websites, QSA would indicate signal strength, QSA means "my
frequency" but It doesn't seem to have been used to mean that back then.

Also, very common back then, I observed "QSR?" or "QRK?" or "PSE QSL and
QRK" or "Will QSR anytime" or "Glad to QSR"

Today, QRK seems to mean "Readability" or R in RST. Also, QSR seems to
mean "repeat the call on frequency".  But these do not seem to be the
meanings back then.

Can anyone shed light on the original meanings of these codes:
QRH
QSS
QSQ
QSA
QSR
QRK

Thanks! 
Eugene w2hx




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