A:  I’d like to begin this week’s Letter Box with opinions from some of our regular listeners about old-fashioned shortwave listening versus new media technology.

Here’s a letter from Christopher Lewis of England. “First, many thanks for the calendar that I received last week, as always, this was very much appreciated. What is also appreciated is the continuation of the shortwave transmissions of Radio VOV. Many international broadcasters have abandoned the use of shortwave as a mean of distributing their programs. Re-broadcasting programs has also started to become popular among some international broadcasters, but this also has its drawbacks. For example, many stations rely on digital radio, but only in London, and as I do not live there, I can’t hear that. Thank goodness that VOV transmits on shortwave.”

B: Another listener from England, Edwin Southwell, says :“I’ve been listening to shortwave radio since 1969 and still enjoy tuning and listening to stations such as VOV to keep up with current affairs, history, culture, and music and songs by Vietnamese artists. All are very interesting and entertaining. Like some other listeners have mentioned in your mailbag program, I do not have the modern technology like the internet and I very much prefer to tune in via the radio, which is much more interesting. Thank you for your well produced and presented programs and for presenting Vietnam to the world via shortwave radio.”

A: We’re so moved to have shortwave enthusiasts like you, which is one of the reasons we continue shortwave broadcasting. Shortwave broadcasting remains an effective channel for communicating with the world. In addition, we have adopted new broadcasting technology to serve a larger audience, including young people who have limited time to catch radio programs and listeners contending with unfavorable shortwave listening conditions.

B: Our website at www.vovworld.vn serves that purpose and we’ve received a lot of compliments. John Rutledge of China wrote: “Thank you for your broadcasts. I continue to enjoy them whenever I can hear them. Reception in northeast China has been better recently, particular during the early evening. However, reception of the broadcasts later in the evening still tends to be poor. Congratulation on your new website! I like it. Since I also listen to your Chinese language program, the new site has allowed me to check for any listening mistakes that I might have made while listening to those broadcasts.”

A: It’s good to know that you enjoy both our shortwave programs and our website. I hope the written versions of the news and features will give you specific information you may have missed on the radio, especially when you listen to Chinese – not your native language.

B: Mr. Rutledge goes on to say: “Once during a Listeners’ Letter Box years ago, you said that every VOV language section sends out different QSL cards. Weeks ago, I received a Chinese language section QSL card and it was different from the English section ones that I have received in the past. Sorry for doubting you.”

A: We’ve relieved to know your doubt proved groundless, Mr. Rutledge. If you or any of our other listeners are ever skeptical about anything you hear on our program, please let us know as soon as possible. We consider it essential to build a trusting relationship between an information provider and its listeners.

B: Regarding the QSL cards, we see them as a way to introduce Vietnam’s land and culture to the world, so each language section always selects typical images to print on them. Listeners like you who observe different VOV language programs will have a QSL card collection of diverse images of Vietnam's scenic spots, and cultural and social activities. The English section will issue three new QSL designs in a couple of weeks – a terraced rice field in the northwestern mountains, Ha Long Bay – a world natural heritage site, and soldiers in the Truong Sa or Spratly archipelago. The photos highlight Vietnam’s mountains, sea, and islands, which is a theme of a national competition in Vietnam this year.

B: We hope our listeners will enjoy collecting our new QSL cards. Now, let’s talk about the frequencies of 5955 khz, 7280 khz, and 9780 khz which beamed to Europe via Moosbrunn, Austria, in January and February. Christopher Lewis and Edwin Southwell of England, Christer Carnegren and Ms. Gertrud Eklof of Sweden, Mazek Pis of Poland, and Reiner Peuthert and Wolfgang Kaiser of Germany all agreed the reception was good on these frequencies. They said they enjoyed listening to the detailed content as well as the VNese songs featured in the program.

A: Thank you all for your precise monitoring of our signal in your localities. You’ll soon receive confirmation cards for your reception. In Bangalore, India, Mr. Muralidhar tuned in to some of our programs in February on 9730 khz. He noted a signal at all 3s, which was not very comfortable for listening. He jotted down the major contents, anyway, which was enough for us to confirm his reception reports. Mr. Muralidhar wants to know about higher education in Vietnam.

B: Vietnam has approximately 400 public and private universities, colleges, and institutes. Two national universities in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city consist of scores of affiliate colleges which offer such majors as economy, business management, medicine, pharmaceutical science, law, social and natural sciences, and education.

A: Four major regional universities, which also have a number of affiliate colleges, are located in Thai Nguyen province in the north, the cities of Hue and Da Nang in the central region and Can Tho city in the south. These locations are major economic hubs which cluster many urban areas and industrial zones. Vietnam has 22 military colleges to train professional officers for its armed forces, and 6 police institutes to train police, and firefighters.

B: Vietnamese universities and colleges have stepped up cooperation with international partners to give Vietnamese students better access to a world-class education at a reasonable cost. Several universities in the US, the UK, France, Australia, Belgium, and Sweden have branches or cooperative training programs with Vnese partners, which serve both Vietnamese students and students from elsewhere in the region.

We welcome your comments at:

English program,
Overseas Service,
Radio Voice of Vietnam

45 Ba Trieu street-Hanoi-Vietnam

email: englishsection@vov.org.vn