GOP Rep. Walden Announces Chairmanship Using Morse Code

While Morse code may not be popular these days, it seems fitting that the new chairman of the House Commerce Committee's Communications subcommittee would announce his new post using the dots and dashes via Twitter.

Rep. Greg Walden (R-WA) issued the following tweet yesterday:

That sent the newspaper The Hill scrambling for answers. Using an online Morse code translator, the newspaper came up with the following announcement: ""WILL CHAIR COMM AND TECH SUB 73S W7EQI."

The first part is self explanatory, but the last part (the number and letter combination) forced some more digging. The Hill explains what it found:

The Hill needed help on the last part, and a Walden aide came to the rescue:

"73s means 'best regards' or a similar sign-off. W7eqi is his [amateur radio call sign]," he said. Walden has a long history in the radio business where he picked up the lingo.

Walden issued a follow-up tweet to clarify his announcement:

Too bad Twitter has already announced its top tweets of the year. Walden could probably make a strong case for his.