A: This week we received an email and a letter from 59-year-old Hans Kronkvist from Malmoe, Sweden, who said he listened to our June 2nd broadcast on the frequency of 9730 kHz from 19:00 to 19:30 UTC. He wrote: “At the time of your broadcast on 9730 kHz, the SINPO was 54544. It was a very fine program I heard from your station.”
B: Hans managed to list our program in a pretty good detail and of course, we’re more than happy to send you our QSL card together with program guide and frequency list to thank you for listening to VOV.
A: Also from Sweden, our regular listener Christer Brunstrom emailed us and said: “I have recently returned home from a visit to France where we had “nems” in our favorite Chinese restaurant. I understand that “nems” are the Vietnamese variety of spring rolls. They are eaten with salad leaves and a sauce. I also had the Vietnamese salad with crab meat. We plan to spend our summer at home and I expect to be able to tune you in frequently to enjoy your many fine programs.”
B: Dear Christer, Vietnamese Spring Rolls or “Nem rán” from northern Vietnam are somewhat different from the Chinese counterpart. First, it is wrapped in Rice Paper Roll or “Bánh Tráng” not the wheat wrapper varieties. The rice paper in Vietnam is elastic, making the roll-up very easy. Second, the fillings vary and included minced pork, prawn meat, crab meat, spring onions, eggs, grass noodles, wooden ears, mushrooms, and other vegetables.
A: For those who grew up with spring rolls in the northern style – we use julienne carrot and kohlrabi or bean sprouts, which give the spring roll the sweetness and freshness of the veggies. These lovely rolls are served with Vietnamese Dipping Sauce and lots of fresh herbs on the side – for example lettuce, mint, bean sprouts, and corriander, etc.
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| Vietnamese springrolls are a not-to-miss dish when you are in Vietnam |
B: In addition to many features on Vietnamese culture, people, cuisine and other topics that you can hear about on VOV, we do hope that you and other listeners of VOV will travel to Vietnam someday to further explore our country and its delicate and subtle cuisine.
A: From Canada, Douglas Copeland emailed us and said: “On June 17, 2012, I picked up the Voice of Vietnam in English on a frequency of 6175 kHz from Sackville. The time was 02:30 until 03:00 UTC….With the information could you please verify my reception of the Voice of Vietnam via Sackville? If possible could you please indicate the transmitter site?”
B: Dear Douglas, thanks for your interest in our program and we are glad to know you tuned into our June 17 broadcast with a report on old audio devices and weekend music session. Of course we’ll send you a QSL card to confirm your report.
A: Despite warnings of the closing of Sackville transmision site, many listeners of VOV still managed to catch our programs through this relay site. And we’d like to remind our listeners that many American listeners are able to catch our broadcasts direct from Vietnam on the frequency 9840 kHz.
B: Alan Anderson from Massachusetts, USA, wrote to us and said he listened to our June 5th broadcast at 01:00 UTC on a frequency of 6175 kHz. He said: “Normally your incoming program is easy to listen to, unfortunately on this night, lots of noise and other disturbance….In between the moderate noise I heard many topics of interest from agricultural and rural development, poverty reduction plans, and children reading move which is always beneficial in their development.”
A: Thank you Allan for your interest in our program as well as your big love for short-wave broadcasting. We welcome your idea of keeping us up-to-date on a website that a couple of people like you are trying to put together devoted to saving short-wave broadcasting and transmitter site. We are always looking forward to hearing news about this issue.
B: You are listening to the Letter Box on Radio the Voice of Vietnam. Right now, let’s take a short break with some melodious Vietnamese music before we are back with more letters and emails from listeners worldwide.
A piece of quan ho folk song
A:You’re tuned in to the Letter Box of VOV English Program. We now continue our show with an email from Roy F. Unger from the US.
B: In his email dated June 18 to us, Roy, who caught our June 16 broadcast on 6175 kHz from 02:30 to 03:00 UTC, said: “It has been a long time since I’ve written to your station….As usual, I enjoyed listening to your broadcast- I especially enjoy the reports on traditional Vietnamese culture, history, and music…I look forward to listening to Radio the Voice of Vietnam regularly and hope your station continues to broadcast on shortwave for many years to come.”
A: Thank you Roy for your kind words. We, at VOV, are doing our best to improve our broadcast quality and live up to expectations of shortwave broadcast fans worldwide.
B: Stefano Gollino from Italy emailed us and said he caught our June 16 broadcast on 9730 kHz from 20:30 to 21:00 UTC. He commented: “I listened with great pleasure to your radio station from far Vietnam, with a good signal but unfortunately with a lot of atmospheric noise and difficult to understand here in northern Italy. I’ll try again another time, hoping for better conditions.”
A: Welcome to the community of VOV listeners worldwide, Stefano. Thank you for your reception report of our program and we look forward to receiving more comments and feedbacks from you. We’d like to inform Stefano and other listeners of VOV that our programs are also available at our website: www.vovworld.vn. You can listen again to your programs on demand at this website as well as check out the most updated news about Vietnam and its many aspects.
B: Talking about our website, this week we received a letter from our regular listener John Ruledge who is now living in China. John reported listening to our May 21, 23 and 24 broadcasts and said: “Thank you for your broadcasts. I continue to enjoy them whenever I can hear them. Reception in northeast China continues to be good. Congratulations on your new website. I like it. Since I also listen to your Chinese language broadcasts, the new site has allowed me to check for any listening mistakes that I might have made while listening to those broadcasts.”
A: Dear John, we’re glad that our website is of great practice for your listening. John went on to say: “I also wish to note that you were correct. Once during listening to a Letter Box program years ago, you said that every VOV language section sends out different QSL cards. Earlier this year, 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.”
B: We are very happy to have such loyal listeners like you, John. We welcome any feedback from you and enjoy very much that you accompany us. Our QSL card, frequency list and program guide are on their way to you now.
A: Time’s ticking away for this week’s Letter Box. Before saying goodbye, we’d like to acknowledge reception reports from Ian Cattermole of New Zealand, Toshiya Nishimura of Tokyo, Japan, and Girish Chadaga of India. Thank you all very much for joining us. 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
B: Or you can email us at: englishsection@vov.org.vn. Our program is also available on our website at: www.vovworld.vn.