A: Welcome to VOV’s Letter Box. This feature airs every Wednesday. Before reviewing letters and emails we received last week, we would like to remind you once again that as of April 1
st, we are using new frequencies for summer broadcasts beamed to certain areas in Europe and America. VOV’s delayed broadcast from Moosbrunn, Woofferton, and Dhabayya to Western Europe at 17:00 UTC is on 9625 kHz.
B: VOV’s broadcast from Woofferton, and Cypress Creek to Eastern North America at 01:00 UTC and 02:30 UTC is on 12005 kHz, and to Central America and the Caribbean at 03:30 UTC is on 6175 kHz. In our previous Letter Box, we promised to send a list of our new frequencies to all of you. Now I can tell you that the list is on its way to you. Meanwhile you can also find it on our website at www.vovworld.vn . We hope the changes will result in better signal quality.
A: Now, let’s see what we got last week. Fumito Hokamura of Okagaki-machi, Fukuoka-ken, Japan, one of our regular listeners, sent us several letters, one of which reported that he tuned in to our English program on March 20th on a frequency of 12020 kHz at 11:36 UTC. At the end of the letter, he wrote some sentences in the Vietnamese language. They are completely correct!
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| The table of Vietnam’s history through thousand years (Photo: lyhanhquan.blogspot.com) |
B: We find that Fumito’s Vietnamese seems to have improved but we’re worried, Fumito, that you haven’t sent us any letters or emails recently. Are you just busy, or is something wrong? We hope not, of course.
A: Anyway, in this letter, Fumito asks to know about the history of Vietnam and its folk songs which he has expressed a fondness for. Today, we’ll briefly introduce you to Vietnamese history which, we believe, is one of the longest continuous histories in the world. Archaeologists are finding more and more evidence of human settlements and a cultural history of thousands of years.
B: Ancient Vietnam practiced agriculture. The Red River valley formed a natural geographic and economic unit, bounded to the north and west by mountains and jungles, to the east by the sea, and to the south by the Red River Delta.
A: The first truly influential part of history in Vietnam occurred during the Bronze Age, when the Dong Son culture dramatically advanced civilization. Several Indian Civilizations flourished in the central and southern regions of the country, particularly the Funanese and Cham. After King Ngo Quyen, who reigned from 939 to 944, in the next millennium Vietnam advanced through the accomplishments of 13 dynasties.
B: There are a lot more things to tell you about Vietnamese history but we need more time to tell them. We hope that you’ll send us more questions – specific questions about each period of history. To do that, you’ll need to spend some time learning about us.
A: Nowadays, in order to honor our ancestors, in the third lunar month of each year, we organize a festival, the Hung Kings’ Temple Festival, to express our gratitude to the founders of the nation. Vietnamese people have a saying: wherever you go, you should always remember the Hung Kings’ death anniversary. It has become a tradition that whenever this day comes, millions of Vietnamese people from around the world make a pilgrimage to the holy land to worship their ancestors.
B: Last week, Nigerian listener Sanusi Isah Dankaba asked us whether we plan to organize either a knowledge competition or a quiz for overseas listeners. This week, Sanusi once again emailed us the same question. We’re grateful to all of you who love VOV, especially our English programs, and are eager to participate in VOV’s competitions. We would like to repeat that we have a listeners’ writing contest every 5 years. The last one was in 2010 and the next will be in 2015. We hope to receive your entry on that occasion, Sanusi.
A: This week we salute a new listener from Italy, Luca Botto Fiora, who lives in Via Al Marmelo, Rapallo. He submitted a report after listening to our English broadcast on February 16th from 20.30 to 20.50 UTC on a frequency of 6175 kHz. He used a PL-660 Tecsun with an external dipole antenna 21 meters long. Luca said the signal strength was good without interference.
B: We were really moved by Luca’s words: ‘I hope that you will be able to write me a verification card or letter encouraging me that I really tuned in to your station’. His letter enclosed an mp3 recording on CD of his reception. He seems to love listening to shortwave broadcasts, particularly those of VOV.
A: Of course, we’ll send you a QSL confirming your reception of our English program on that day. And we’ve added your name to our list of regular listeners. We really hope that from now on, you’ll listen faithfully to VOV and send us letters or emails regularly.
B: Another listener from Lido di Camaiore, Italy, is Marzio Vizzoni, whose hobby has been listening to shortwave radio since 1973. Marzio had been listening to VOV for some time, and then had to stop for a while. He was very surprised to be able to tune in VOV from the northwest coast of Italy on a frequency of 5855 kHz at 18.00 to 18.30 UTC with good quality.
A: Welcome back, Marzio. We’re happy to learn you want to listen to our English programs again. To help your tune in, we’ll send you our updated summer program schedule and, of course, a QSL card for your reception on March 14th.
B: Listener Thomas J.Corcoran of Dalby, Sweden, emailed us saying that he listened to a broadcast on 9625 kHz from 17.00 to 1727 UTC on March 31st. Basically, the quality was almost perfect except for a slight amount of interference caused by a very strong station on 9260 kHz.
A: Thank you for your technical comments which will help us a lot. We’re glad to hear that you’re looking forward to our new feature ‘Colourful Vietnam – Vietnam’s 54 ethnic groups’, which will be broadcast every Monday. We hope that this feature will provide the so-called ‘mind food’ for you as you suggested in your email ‘Yes, we all need food, health care, and housing to get by here in life but just consider how empty our life would be without the arts and culture.’
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A performance featuring all Vietnamese people to share the same Lac Hong blood
(Photo: dtinews.vn) |
A: The clock is running down here on VOV’s Letter Box. Before we go, we’d like to remind you of our address:
The English program,
Overseas Service, Radio Voice of Vietnam,
45 Ba Trieu Street, Hanoi, Vietnam
B: Or you can email us at: englishsection@vov.org.vn. If you miss any of our programs, you can always catch up by logging onto our website at: www.vovworld.vn, where you can hear both live broadcasts and previously recorded programs.
Bao Tram