Every Q code app on the store indexes by code. Mid-contact you do not have the code — you have the problem. Q Codes Reference is built the other way round, and it drills the vocabulary until you can recall it under time pressure rather than look it up after the moment has passed.
Rendered through the green phosphor glow of a CRT terminal, and it works with no signal at all.
ON AIR
Forty situations grouped by intent, each naming the one token that answers it. "Static is spoiling your reception" gives you QRN. "Ask them to wait a moment" gives you AS. Search it by what you need to say, not by a code you have not learned yet.
A complete worked contact runs end to end, from the first CQ to the closing SK, with every token in it tappable through to its full entry.
A signal report builder that leads with the definition rather than the digit, because nobody decides to send a five — they decide the other station is perfectly readable and the five falls out of it. Tap the report to hear it sent.
THE TRAINER
Spaced repetition with an SM-2 style interval held per item. Three modes, four alternatives, and no marking your own work.
- RECOGNISE — the code is shown, choose its meaning
- PRODUCE — the situation is shown, choose the code
- AUDIO — the code is sent as Morse, choose its meaning
The wrong answers are the point. Distractors come from the codes you actually confuse with this one, so QRZ draws QRA, QRL and QRS rather than three codes nobody would mix up. Confusable pairs are drilled adjacently once both are known, because discrimination is a separate skill from recall.
The grade is derived from your answer and the time you took, never reported by you.
REFERENCE
106 entries across Q codes, prosigns, operating abbreviations and the phonetic alphabet. Every entry carries what it means when you hear it, when it is correct to send it, its interrogative sense where it has one, per-mode advice, and the codes it is routinely mixed up with.
The written Morse sits under the CW line, and a prosign is shown run together as the single character it actually is — AR is not A then R.
BANDS
Amateur allocations for all three ITU regions, sixteen bands each from 2200 m to 23 cm, grouped LF through UHF. Allocations only. Mode conventions inside a band are the IARU plan, a voluntary agreement, and are not reproduced here.
MORSE
Every code can be sent as CW at a speed you choose, with Farnsworth spacing so the character speed holds while the gaps stretch. Word gaps, character gaps and run-together prosigns are all timed properly. That is the part no rival does.
CONTENT
Every entry is cross-referenced against two independent sources before it ships. Where the sources disagree, the derivation settles it and the app says which reading it took. Where a value is genuinely unconfirmed, it is marked rather than invented.
FEATURES
- 106 entries across four families, all sourced
- Forty situations, each with a single correct answer
- A complete worked contact, start to finish
- Signal report builder with cut numbers explained
- Spaced repetition trainer with three drill modes
- CW audio throughout, at your own character and effective speeds
- Band allocations for all three ITU regions
- Green, amber and red phosphor CRT themes
- Red mode preserves dark adaptation for a night-time shack
- Works entirely offline, no account, no network call
- 99c, one payment, no ads, no subscriptions, no in-app purchases
SOURCES
- Q codes: amateur QRA to QUZ series, governed by ITU-R
- Phonetic alphabet: ICAO and ITU international radiotelephony spelling alphabet
- Prosigns and abbreviations: conventional amateur CW practice
- Band allocations: 47 CFR 97.301, a United States government work in the public domain
SUPPORT
Need help? Have a question, bug report, or feature request?
- Ask a question — get help with using the app
- Report a bug — let us know if something isn't working
- Request a feature — suggest an improvement or a code worth adding
Corrections to the vocabulary are especially welcome. If something in here is wrong on the air, please say so.
You can also browse existing issues to see if your question has already been answered.