B: His 'The Voice Of Vietnam'  memorabilia file includes copies of two letters and reception reports that he sent to VOV on 15 July 1988 and 15 May, 1990, plus a pennant, QSL, program guide, New Year’s card, and calendar card that we sent him in 1991.

A: It’s a nice surprise to hear from you again after nearly 3 decades. Albert wrote: “I am writing to let you know that I was lucky enough to receive part of
your broadcast on Thursday July 5^th, 2018. I am pleased to know that you are still broadcasting an English language Service on short-wave radio bands. I would be most grateful if my name could be added to your mailing list for program schedules if you still send them out as I wish to tune in again, and hopefully more often, if 'conditions' permit.”

B: Well, things have changed a lot over the years since your last letter to VOV’s English section: people out, people in, program changes, radio technology upgrades, a new office building. VOV’s programs are broadcast on the internet to reach a wider public in addition to traditional shortwave channels.  But one thing that remains unchanged is VOV’s friendship with listeners worldwide. We always welcome listeners’ reception reports and feedback by letter, email, or via the English section’s Fanpage on Facebook.

VOV's headquarters at 58 Quan Su street, Hanoi.

A: It’s great to know that you can manage your time to enjoy 'radio' once again and contact us. We’ll send you our latest frequency guide to make it more convenient to tune in to VOV’s English programs. We are now available on the internet at vovworld.vn. There are written stories and audio files of all VOV’s English programs there for you. Once again, thank you for listening and contacting us again.

B: A regular listener, Siddhartha Bhattacharjee, President of the Chaitak Listeners Club of India, wants to know about Vietnam’s biggest library. Without a doubt it’s the National Library of Vietnam in Hanoi. In the beginning, the National Library was modelled on French libraries, and was tasked with collecting the best books of literature, the arts, and science, as well as all documents about Indochina. 

A: Now it has a collection of over 2.5 million items and a digitized collection of almost 5 million pages. This includes precious and rare collections since the 17^th century: Chinese-transcribed Vietnamese documents, Indochinese newspapers and magazines, and doctoral theses.

The National Library of Vietnam.

B: There are books, newspapers, magazines, paintings, pieces of music, maps, and many other special publications related to Vietnam collected since 1922.

A: There are also special publications such as: paintings, photographs, maps, and foreign language items about Viet Nam or written and published by Vietnamese citizens overseas.

B: The National Library welcomes hundreds of walk-in visitors each day, plus more than 6,500 visitors to its website. Since 2002, it has organized an annual “Book festival and reading culture” event, attracting thousands of visitors.

The National Library of Vietnam

A: The National Library is a popular venue for exhibitions, conferences, and seminars on culture and history. It’s also a popular stop on architectural tours because of its French architecture.

B: Hello to Heath Hall, a VOV listener living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the southwestern US. He sent us a reception report for a program on July 8^th on 9840 kHz. He remarked “I would rate your signal this morning a 32332.  Signal strength and audio quality were good and, considering the distance, not much fading or noise. Unfortunately, there was significant interference from Voice of America in Chinese on 9845 kHz that made listening very challenging.  Perhaps if I had a more professional receiver I could have filtered out that signal.  I was also able to pick up your female announcer's voice better than the male's, which seemed kind of muffled.”

A traditional reading room.

A: Health, although you couldn't catch all of our program, due to the VOA interference, we appreciate your feedback and we’ll send you a QSL card to confirm it. We hope to receive more of your reception reports. 

B: Here I have a letter from Allan R. Loudell of the US, after a long time not writing to us. Allan said he is still listening to VOV via shortwave. He submitted a report for a June 23^rd program on 7315khz. SINPO rating was 54444.

A: Dr. Dilip Kumar Sarkar of India sent us an audio file of a program on July 7 on 7220 khz. We’re glad to learn that the transmission was quite clear. It was pleasant to listen to the program with SINPO rating at 44454.

B: Another regular listener of India, Debakamal Harazika, told us that the Weekend Music segment on July 7 had some wonderful Vietnamese songs about summer.

A newly built reading space for children in the National Library of Vietnam.

A: Jawahar Almeida of the US reported listening to a program on July 1^st on 12020khz. He told us “I listen to your station quite often as you are one of the few remaining stations worldwide that are still on shortwave. Thank you for the nice programming. I also have an interest in music from various countries. That’s the reason I listen to shortwave. I was indeed very interested in listening to your broadcast and I hope to tune in again.”

B: From Berlin, Andreas Muecklich emailed us a report for a program on July 4^th . The program was beamed to North America on 7315khz and the signal was good enough to catch the details.

A: Martin Steiner of Australia reported listening to a program on July 3^rd on 12020kHz. He said the reception was very clear at SINPO 45444 on the south coast of Western Australia. “I would have liked to listen to more of your refreshing program and will try to tune in a bit earlier next time,” Martin said.

B: He told us his plan “Next month I’ll to go to Vietnam for a holiday with my wife. Can't wait to see your country.”  Martin, if you come to Hanoi, you’re welcome at VOV’s headquarters at 45 Ba Trieu street.

A: That’s our program for today. We always welcome your feedback at English Section, VOVWorld, Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu Street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Our email address is englishsection@vov.org.vn. Thank you for listening. Please join us again next Wednesday for another edition of the Letter Box. Goodbye.