Private Pilot Flight Training and Instruction Flight Training Article Library | Back To 4VFR.COM Radio Q-History The Q codes were developed when communications wasn't as good as now, and Morse code was till the norm. It was a lot easier to shorten things down, made life a lot easier on the wireless operators if they only had to send a few letters rather than a whole sentence, and also was less likely to be misinterpreted. Anyway, the Q stood/stands for question, and NH stands for Nil height. In Europe an ATIS will always include QNH and QFE. If you set the QNH, you can report your SL as "altitude QNH", whereas if you report QFE it will be understood you are reporting height above field elevation. Understand that QFE derived from Q code Field Elevation hence QFE Written by Gene Whitt Flight Training Article Library | Back To 4VFR.COM