A: First off, I’d like to inform you of our frequency changes for the winter. Pen and paper ready? Our English broadcasts to Western Europe from Moosbrunn, Dhabayya, and Woofferton will be broadcast from 18.00 to 18.30 UTC on 5955 KHz.
B: From the Woofferton and Cypress Creek relay stations, our English programs will now be broadcast on 9640 KHz to the eastern US from 01.00 to 01.30 UTC and from 03.30 to 04.00 UTC, and to the central US and the Caribbean from 02.300 to 03.00 UTC.
A: Once again, from the Mossbrunn, Dhabayya and Woofferton relay stations to the western Europe, our English programs will be from 18.00 to 18.30 UTC on 5955 KHz, and from the Woofferton and Cypress Creek stations, our broadcasts now will be on 9640 KHz to the eastern USA from 01.00 to 01.30 UTC and from 03.30 to 04.00 UTC, and to the central US and the Caribbean from 02.300 to 03.00 UTC.
B: All the changes took effect on October 28th. In case you missed what we just said, don’t worry. We have all the information on our website at www.vovworld.vn. And if you are on our mailing list, we’ll send you a hard copy of our updated frequency list by post mail. We hope the signal on the new frequencies will be good. Send us some feedback soon.
A: Here’s an email dated October 25 from Gerry Neumann in the UK. He sent his previous letter to us several weeks ago, and since that time, he has continued to listen. Gerry says: “Most of the time reception here in Fareham, Hampshire at 17UTC on 9625 khz has not been very good, with interference and noise spoiling my listening. But since the beginning of this week, the signal has improved to 44434 on most days. I have also found that the direct broadcast from Vietnam at 16 UTC on both 7280 khz and 9730 khz has been good with SINPO rating at all 4s.”
B: Mr. Horsefield of Preston, UK, also said the reception on 9625 khz was poor. The audio was weak, with loud hissing, he said. He could hear the presenters but not well enough to catch what was being said.
A: Now that we have changed the winter frequency for Europe to 5955 khz at 18 UTC, you should find the signal quality more satisfactory. This week, we got letters from Greece and Brazil. It was really a nice surprise, because we have very few listeners in Brazil or Greece. Kyriakos Dritsas of Greece said he is 60 years old and started Dxing in 1973. Recently he got pensioned after working 38 years at the Thessaloniki Airport. Mr. Dritsas wrote: “I really enjoy listening to your station because you have a program with wide variety. But the reception in Greece is not always acceptable due to the long distance.”
A: Mr. Dritsas reported listening to VOV on October 3 from 17 – 17:27 UTC on 9625 khz. He rated SINPO for the entire broadcast 34353 with some static noise interfering with the program after 17:12 UTC. It’s great to hear from you, Sir. Your technical comments are useful for our engineers. We’ll send you our new frequency list.
A: From Brazil, Anselmo de Paula Camargo tuned to VOV on September 22 and 23 on the frequency of 9550 khz. The overall transmission quality was 3 to 4. His reception reports noted the major contents of the program, enough for us to verify the listening with QSL cards. As requested, we’ll also send our frequency list, program guide, and some Vietnamese magazines or postcards.
B: Letters from Japanese listeners are integral to our weekly Letter Box. We often get 8 letters a week from Japan, most of them from our regular listener Fumito Hokamura. His letters often have beautiful stamps with images of Japanese landscape, nature, architecture, performance, and typical musical instruments and utensils. I love stamps featuring beautiful Japanese girls in elaborate kimonos, or scenic spots like Mount Fuji at cherry blossom time. The stamps tell us a lot about Japan.
A: What I love is reading listeners’ letters describing the weather and attractions where they live. Yoshihiro Kusanagi lives in Tokyo. He told us: “I listen to your broadcasts on the balcony of my apartment. In the summer, it’s too hot to listen to the radio outdoors. But now the cool air is comfortable. I enjoy your program while watching the half moon. Today I listened to stories on current issues in Vietnam and enjoyed some beautiful songs. I learned that the Vietnamese government regards gender equality important.”
B: Mr. Kusanagi went on describe the autumn there: “Flower festivals are held in the parks at this season. Autumn is flower and red leaf season. I sometimes go to a park with my family to see autumn leaves and flower arrangements. It’s healthy. There are many public parks and green studies in Tokyo.”
A: Autumn in Hanoi is also great, with gentle breezes and a honey sun. This gorgeous weather will last a few weeks more before changing into cold and humid winter. Mr. Hokamura and Mr. Kusanagi, thank you for sharing with us something about your country and your life. And we appreciate your signal quality remarks on the frequency of 12020 khz. We are happy to know this frequency is reliable in Japan.
B: Last but not least, we want to acknowledge letters from David Ortiz Martinez of Mexico, Andy Martynyuk of Russia, Mizan Rahman of Bangladesh, and Karobi Hazarika and Machiraju Subba of India.
A: Thank you all for sending us feedback. We promise we’ll confirm all the reception reports we got this week and send you our updated frequency list for the winter. That’s all the time we have on this week’s Letter Box, so we have to say goodbye. We welcome your feedback at:
English section, Overseas Service, Radio Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu Street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Or you can email us at: englishsection@vov.org.vn. And if you miss any of our programs, you can always catch up by visiting our website at www.vovworld.vn, where you can hear both live and recorded programs. Good bye until next time.