A: Summer has arrived suddenly here in Hanoi where we are having lots of sunshine with temperatures above 32 Degrees Celsius. This week we received warm greetings from springlike Stockholm from Malin Mutka who recently resumed her shortwave hobby after a long break of over 20 years.
B: Welcome back Malin!!! In her email dated April 13th, she reported listening to our April 12th broadcast on 9625 kHz from 17:08 to 17:27 UTC with a quite strong signal of 434. She wrote: “I have never been to Vietnam but have plans to visit your country within a year. When is the best time to visit Vietnam? Is it easy to travel around the country? Unfortunately I did not hear the name of the island you talked about in the program. But it sounds like a very interesting place!”
A: Well, Vietnam’s weather is dictated by two monsoons. The winter monsoon comes from the northeast between October and March, bringing damp, chilly weather to all areas north of the central city of Nha Trang, and warm, dry weather to the south. From April or May to October, the summer monsoon brings hot, humid weather to the whole country except for those areas sheltered by mountains.
B: For the best balance, we’d vote for the months of spring from February to April, or May, or October, as the best time to visit Vietnam. For those sticking to the south, November to February is dry and a touch cooler. And it’s now quite convenient for foreign visitors to travel around Vietnam by plane, bus, or train.
A: The island you heard about during our April 12th broadcast is Ly Son Island in the central province of Quang Ngai. This was home to the first Sa Huynh residents nearly 3,000 years ago and is considered the kingdom of garlic. You’re right, Malin, the island is surely an ideal place for visitors to relax on its beautiful beaches or explore its many cultural and historical relics. We’re looking forward to meeting you in Vietnam someday soon.
B: Earlier, in a city called Joensuu, in eastern Finland, listener Sami Niemelainen caught our March 31st broadcast on a frequency of 9730 kHz, from 20:30 -21:05 UTC. Sami wrote in his email: “The signal quality was very good at 23:45 local time. It’s very nice to receive your radio broadcast here in Finland. The distance between your transmitter and my home is about 7191 kilometers. I enjoyed very much listening to your local music between 20:30 and 21:00...”
A: Sami recorded a small audio clip from our program and uploaded it to youtube to help us check the signal quality. Thank you very much Sami, our QSL card together with our frequency list and program guide are on their way to you now.
B: From the town of Oneida in New York, USA, listener Alex Klauber reported listening to our April 11th broadcast with superb quality and a SINPO of all 5s. He said he enjoys VOV programs and catches the broadcasts whenever he can. Thank you for your interest in our program. We hope our QSL card and program guide will reach you soon.
A: We also received a message from Bangkok’s Savarnabhumi Airport from our old friend, Indonesian listener Hazairin Junep who wrote: “While waiting for the car from my hotel I tried to monitor your transmission in English......At the end you presented 3 great songs about Hanoi from the old day. Oh how I love those songs. Hanoi....I love you.”
B: We’re very happy we’re still in touch and that you managed to catch our broadcast in detail. We hope to receive more feedback from you in the future. Now, here’s a song about Hanoi, as our gift to all our listeners before we continue with letters and emails received during the week.
A song about Hanoi
A: If you’d like to hear that song or our program again, please note that our broadcast is now online at www.vovworld.vn or www.vov5.vn. You can log on to our website to read a transcript or hear a recording whenever you want.
B: From sunny Malaysia, Timm Breyel informed us that Voice of Vietnam transmissions originating from Hanoi, Moosbrunn (relay site), and Thoi Hung in the southern province of Can Tho are heard regularly in his region on shortwave and medium wave radio. He sent us very detailed reports of our programs on the of 12.020 kHz frequency with SINPO all 5s. Thank you, Timm. We promise to send you QSL cards to verify your reports as soon as possible.
A: Also on the 12.020 kHz frequency, listener Toshiya Nishimura from Japan reported listening to our April 13th broadcast from 11:00 to 11:57 UTC with a general good impression of the programs and a SINPO of all 4s. He noted that he can listen to our programs both on 12.020 and 9840 kHz, which is very convenient for him. However, the 9840 kHz frequency had interference which made it difficult for him to hear.
B: Thank you for your information, Toshiya. We’ll forward your letter to our technical department and I’m sure it will be of great help in improving our service.
A: This week we were very surprised to receive an email from Roberta Pogorelis of Vilnius, Lithuania, who reported listening to us on 9730 kHz from 19:10 to 19:21 UTC on April 21st. Now we have two Dxers from Lithuania: Vidmantas Stilius and Roberta Pogorelis. Dear Vidmantas Stilius, we hope this is good news for you, as there’s at least one person in your country who shares your hobby of d-xing.
B: We also received emails from Khokan Naska of India who said he found our programs very educational and informative. He reported listening to our everyday broadcasts in detail from April 13th to 17th. On the frequency 7220 kHz from 16:00 to 16:27 UTC, he recorded a SINPO of 44443. Of course, dear Khokan, we’ll send QSL cards to verify your reports, along with our program guide and frequency list.
A: This week we also acknowledge reception reports from Richard Lemke of Canada, Razzak Hoshin of Bangladesh, David Turnick of the United States, Dieter Sommer of eastern Germany, as well as many other old D-xer friends. QSL cards are on their way to you already.
B: Thank you all, dear listeners, for your interest in our programs. We look forward to receiving more comments and suggestions from you. Our contact address is:
The English program
Overseas Service
Radio Voice of Vietnam
45 Ba Trieu street, Hanoi, Vietnam
A: Or you can email us at: englishsection@vov.org.vn.
Our program is also available on our website at: www.vovworld.vn