A: To begin this week’s Letter Box edition, we would like to say Hello to a very young listener John Langley from England.
B: John, 13-years old, said he received a shortwave radio for his birthday last month. He listened to VOV on September 1 and decided to send us a reception report, the first one he ever made.
A: John has a Robert R9962 receiver with a telescopic aerial. He observed our program on the frequency of 9625 khz a generally good signal. He rated SINPO at 43333. John, although you didn’t listen to the first half of our program, which was the news bulletin, your report regarding the second half was sufficient for us to send you a QSL card. We’ll send you some gifts from Vietnam as a token of our thanks for your interest in our program. We hope to get more feedback from you in the future.
B: We’re always happy to establish new correspondence with listeners worldwide, particularly youngsters. It shows that listening to shortwave radio is not old-fashioned. Here I have an email from Salah Uddin of Bangladesh. He is a student and listening to shortwave radio is his hobby. Salad wrote: “All of your programs are very informative and educative. As a student, your programs enrich my knowledge.” He also visits VOV’s website and follows us on Face Book.
A: Thank you very much Salad for your nice words. Our Face Book network is new so we have not yet connected with many of our older listeners. We hope you will be friends with us on Face book. Our nickname is VOV5 English Program.
All Vietnamese pupils begin the new academic year on September 5. |
B: From Japan, Professor Motofumi Kai sent us a reception report for a program on August 11 on the frequency of 9730 khz. Motofumi wrote: “I usually listen to VOV in Japanese when I’m in Japan. I have been listening to the program for more than 35 years. I can say I’m one of your faithful listeners. Now I’m writing this reception report from Bongor Regis of the UK. I’ve been staying here with some of my students. They are attending their summer English course at the University of Chichester and I’m their chaperon this time.”
A: Motofumi commented on the transmission: “Here in Great Britain, judging from my experience, it’s impossible to listen to your program in Japanese. Every time I lived in or came to Europe, I tried to catch your Japanese program in vain. So instead I have been enjoying your program in English. Since I can listen to you with a good reception, I hope I can listen to you more often and enjoy your programs again.”
B: Thank you Motofumi for your useful feedback. VOV’s Japanese language is broadcast to Northeastern Asia on 9840 khz and 12020 khz. The frequencies can be heard in some European countries, but not in the UK. When you’re in Europe, we hope you can listen to our program in English or visit our website which features 12 languages, including Japanese and English.
A: Another Japanese listener sent us a reception report when he is traveling abroad. Koichi Ikeda wrote: “While I was scanning the 6MHz band, I caught your station on the frequency of 6175 khz. I listened to the Spanish program at 23:20 UTC in good reception. But during the English program from 23:30 UTC to 23:58 UTC, the reception became worse. It was very difficult to catch the content after 23:34 UTC. I found that the starting music was the same as the Japanese program.”
B: He used a SONY ICF-SW 7600 GR to tune in to our channel at Hyatt Regency Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago. Thank you, Motofumi and Koichi for spending time on the VOV channel during your working trip, and your detailed feedback. We’ll send the QSL cards to your addresses in Japan. Regarding the signal tune at the beginning of each program, it’s a melody of the song “Wipe out the fascists” written by Nguyen Dinh Thi in 1945. The song has been used as the signature tune of Radio the Voice of Vietnam. All VOV’s domestic and international programs begin with the tune and an announcement “This is the Voice of Vietnam, broadcasting from Hanoi, capital of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.”
A: From England, Ian Stagg sent us a letter: “I’m enclosing a reception report from the weekend featuring the very good Sunday Show. I was very surprised and delighted to receive two picture cards of your country a few weeks ago. I was very pleased and thank you so much. I still continue to listen to VOV for the news from your area, and your interesting features. I also enjoy the pleasant music. It’s very good that VOV continues to put out high quality programs over short wave.”
B: We’re grateful that you enjoyed our program. We’ll continuously renew our program to make it more informative and attractive. We’ve checked your reception report which was precise and detailed. We’ll send you a QSL card and we hope you’ll get it soon. Indian listener Ratan Kumar said that he and his friends enjoyed the program about cockfighting on August 27th. They were well informed about this popular form of entertainment and how people in Hanoi enjoyed it.
A: He wants to know briefly about the process to amend the Constitution in Vietnam. Vietnam is amending the 1992 Constitution, which was revised in 2001. The revision process is conducted on the principle of consensus and centralized democracy while upholding the regulations of the 1992 constitution and referring to previous constitutions, which are still applicable. The Committee for Constitutional Amendment Drafting and relevant agencies proposed amendments to the 1992 Constitution.
B: The draft revisions were debated at the National Assembly and made public for a nationwide referendum early this year. The Committee for Constitutional Amendment Drafting gathered opinions from all sectors, organizations, and individual Vietnamese people living within and outside the country. All recommendations and criticisms were put to serious consideration and included in the draft constitution. The National Assembly deputies debate and amend the draft revision before it is voted on at the National Assembly. It needs two thirds of the yes votes for ratification.
A: In our daily program, we regularly update information on the process of revising the Constitution. We explained concisely how the Constitution is amended in Vietnam to answer a question from Ratan Kumar of India. Time is now running out on VOV’s English program. Thank you all for spending time with VOV and writing to us. We’ll verify your reports soon.
B: We welcome your feedback at: the English section, Overseas Service, Radio Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu Street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Or you can email us at: englishsection@vov.org.vn. You’re invited to visit us online at www.vovworld.vn, where you can hear both live and recorded programs. Good bye from Hanoi.