B: Felix said: “I find your programs very intersting including the news about Vietnam, and learning about different ethnic groups in Vietnam and their daily life. I think VOV does a very good job to give information about Vietnam to the world. I keep up with the news and today’s Current Affairs provided information about Vietnam’s achievements in human rights protection. I learned about the use of internet.”
A: He also told us that he has never been to Vietnam. But maybe some days he will visit Vietnam. For now VOV helps him to learn about Vietnam and he feels like he has visited the country many times.
 Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO-recognized world natural heritage site, is the most popular tourist destination in Vietnam. |
B: We are eagerly waiting to meet you in Vietnam one day, Felix. Travelling to Vietnam has never been easier than now. Tourists, either free independent travelers or by taking package tours, can easily apply for visa to enter Vietnam. Vietnam Airlines, the national airline of Vietnam, flies to 49 scheduled and charter destinations in 16 countries. The airline also has codeshare agreements with some 19 airlines, giving it a total comprehensive flight network spanning Asia, Europe, North America, Africa and Oceania. Vietnam Airlines, together with several other domestic carriers, plan to operate direct flights between Vietnam and the US as early as next year.
 Vietnamese women's football team |
A: Felix told us that it was intersting to hear that Vietnamese women’s football team is the top team in Southeast Asia. He’s interested in women’s football because his daughter played football in the US. Now she is trying to find a team in Europe. That’s the reason they are in Portugal. And he listened to VOV from Portugal with good transmissions.
B: We wish your daughter more success in Europe. The Vietnam Women’s National Football Team is managed by the Vietnam Football Federation. The Vietnam’s Women National Football Team has retained their 35th position in the latest FIFA rankings in July, topping Southeast Asia after Thailand slipped.
A: Vietnam topped Group B of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Women’s Championship after defeating Myanmar 4-0 on August 20th. The national women's football coach said they have set sights of a championship at the AFF in Chonbury, Thailand.
 The Vietnamese Women National Football team at Southeast Asian Games 2017. |
B: The AFF Women’s Championship is an important warm-up for the Vietnam women’s football team before taking part in the Southeast Asian Games in November and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics qualifiers.
A: With FIFA expanding the number of teams at the Women's World Cup from 24 to 32, Vietnam can realistically aim high. In the last two World Cups, Asia had five slots, but with the number of teams increased to 32, a sixth opens up. It means Vietnam, who are among the top six teams in the continent, can dream of playing their first World Cup four years from now. Vietnam were very close to qualifying for the 2015 World Cup when they made it to the final play-offs, but lost 1-2 to Thailand at home.
B: I’m reading a letter from Patrick Travers of England. He told us that he listened to the Voice of Vietnam on July 31 and enjoyed listening to the Letter Box and the song “Beautiful Vietnam”.
A: Patrick tuned in to our program on 7280khz at 19:16 UTC. The signal was very strong and he gave the SINPO rating of 45544. Audio quality was excellent.
B: We’ve checked our reception report and definitely will send you a QSL card to confirm your report. As you want to know more about Vietnam’s coal industry, we’ll have some brief introduction of the coal sector’s development strategy.
 Quang Ninh province will close all open pit coal mines this year. |
A: Though the Vietnamese government plans to increase its renewable energy capacity, Vietnam’s power industry is forecast to see a rise in coal-powered generation as the cheap and reliable source remains the most feasible option to meet the country’s rapidly rising power demands. According to Fitch Group’s Fitch Solutions Macro Research, Vietnam’s coal-powered generation growth is expected to increase rapidly over the next decade and dominate the country’s power sector expansion.
B: They forecast that coal generation will reach 50.5 percent of the total consumption power mix by 2028, with gas at 22.5 per cent, hydropower at 22.8 percent and non-hydro renewables at 3.8 percent. This is due to relatively slow supply growth from traditional sources of energy such as hydropower and natural gas.
A: Dr Nguyễn Cảnh Nam from the Vietnam Energy Association said the development of coal-fired power must be cleaner to increase efficiency and reduce emissions through the use of more modern technologies. Over the longer term, there are downsides to coal-fired power growth due to increasing environmental concerns and rising coal prices.
 Open pit coal mines exploration in Quang Ninh province |
B: Quang Ninh province, the biggest coal mine area in Vietnam, will close its open pit coal mines this year to pave the way for the development of local tourism and services and protect Ha Long Bay, a world natural heritage site.
A: For the last hundreds of years, Quang Ninh province has exploited open pit coal mines which has caused serious consequences to soil degradation, reduced forest coverage, worsened the quality of surface and ground water, increased landslide, and changed the terrain. Further more, the landscape and environment of Ha Long city and Ha Long Bay have been affected.
B: The province has 36 open pit coal mines, however it has a road map to shut them down and revert the environment to the original state, as well as hand over the areas to the local authority to serve other purposes such as building golf courses and developing green urban areas.
 Quang Ninh province pursues a green, clean environment. |
A: Maciej Janczara of Poland emailed us saying: “I'm glad to say that I have received your English language broadcast to Europe on August 18th. I listened to your programs for the first time two weeks ago. During this time I tuned in to Voice of Vietnam several times. The most interesting for me are programs about Vietnamese culture and ethnic peoples. I also like listening to the Letter Box.”
B: About the reception, he noted: “Your frequency of 7280 kHz was received with strong signal, but fading lower with the quality. Unfortunately 9730 kHz is jammed by China Radio International on the same frequency at 19.00 UTC. Sometimes 7280 kHz was also jammed by a strange noise, maybe it's Radio New Zealand International DRM transmission.”
A: Here I have a letter from Will Grocott of the UK reporting a VOV’s program on 7280khz. He heard our program in Stratford Upon Avon on August 1st. The reception was strong with slight noise and slight phase shift. The audio was excellent and very clear with SINPO rating at 54444.
B: Massimo Lombardo of Italy sent a report for a program on August 20th on the frequency of 9730 Mhz. He noted SINFO 44334 with good signal, slight interference, but with moderate noise and fading. The overall merit was good.
A: Eddy Prabowo of Indonesia tuned in to our program on August 18th on the frequency of 7315khz. He rated SINPO at all 4s and gave technical remarks that the audio was heard strong and clear with a little bit of noise and slightly wavy as usual on the shortwave. At 02.01 UTC the signal transmission was off for almost 2 minutes.
B: Richard Nowak of the US said he enjoyed the show on August 19th on 7315khz and rated the overall quality at 5. Richard said: “The Sunday Show gave great insight into the customs of the ethnic people in Vietnam. It had a great episode on wedding customs of ethnic people. The playing of the 6 string instrument to show love to one’s beloved and the flute was discussed. I enjoyed tonight’s show. The Vietnamese News and World News were informative. Thanks for the show and your support of shortwave! Thanks for the QSL cards, paper dolls and stamps!”
A: Thank you all for your reports and feedback. We’ll send you QSL cards to confirm them. We welcome your feedback at: English Service, VOVworld, the Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Or you can email us at: englishsection@vov.org.Vietnam. You’re invited to visit us online at vovworld.vn, where you can hear both live and recorded programs.
B: Check out our VOV Media App available on both the IOS and Android platform to hear our live broadcasts. We look forward to your feedback on the mobile version of vovworld.Vietnam. Once again, thank you all for listening. Goodbye until next time.