A group photo of Vietnam's Level 2 Field Hospital No.2 staff in Australia before heading to South Sudan. (Photo: Australian Embassy in Vietnam)

B: In April 2015, Vietnam sent 3 officers to the UN peacekeeping mission in Central Africa. On January 5, 2018, the Vietnam Peacekeeping Department debuted.

A: So far, Vietnam has sent hundreds of soldiers to participate in UN peacekeeping missions including staffing 2 Level-2 field hospitals for the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan.

B: Vietnam’s participation in and contribution to UN peacekeeping activities has been acknowledged and praised by the international community. The UN selected Vietnam as a training centers for the international peacekeeping forces.

A: Many listeners highlighted Vietnam’s contributions to regional and world peace, its presiding over the UN Security Council in January, 2020, its ASEAN Chairmanship in 2020 and its initiatives to promote world peace at a number of multilateral forums.

Vietnamese officers and soldiers of level-2 Field Hospital of the United Nations peacekeeping force return home after a year on duty in South Sudan, November 2019. (Photo: VNA)

B: Our listeners’ excellent answers demonstrated an interest and special feeling for Vietnam. Some of the best answers came from Johnny Antonio Ramírez López of Peru to out the Spanish Service , Rabi Sankar Bosu of India and Ashik Eqbal Tokon of Bangladesh to our English Service, Xue Fei of China to our Chinese Service, Sergey Afanasyev of Ukraine to our Russian Service, and Rudi Hartono of Indonesian to our Indonesian Service.

A: Congratulations. We hope to continue to receive your support.

B: Next, we’d like to acknowledge letters from Ian Kay of Australia. Kay sent two letters to us this week with reception reports for the programs on October 6 and 7 from 10:00 to 10:28 UTC on the frequency of 9840 khz.

A: Using his old Yaesu FRG-8800 receiver with a longwire, outdoor antenna,  about 20 feet long, he said he tried to listen to our program on October 6 on the frequency of 9840 khz and found it nearly impossible and the program on the same frequency a day later was not too clear. SINPO was between 2 and 4.

B: Thank you for your detailed reception report. It’s useful to our technicians. We’ll send you our latest frequency list and program schedule. We look forward to hearing more from you.

A: Also from Australia, M. Harding wrote: “Good day. I hope everything is well with the team there in these unusual circumstances. I am just trying to find out what times I can listen to your English language program online or via radio. I’ve tried via apps and the website but I’m thinking I need the specific time slots as the programming is not 24/7.”

B: Thank you, Mr. Harding. On our website at vovworld.vn or vov5.vn, we have recorded programs under the heading “Program of the week” updated daily. We also stream our FM broadcasts called “English 24/7” on our website from 6 AM to 10 PM. If you use a smartphone, you can listen to our program on mobile app called VOV Media. We hope to receive more feedback from you.

B: Next, here’s a letter from Grant Skinner of the UK, who writes to us in on a regular basis. Listening to our program at 19:01 UTC on October 18 on the frequency of 7280 khz, he wrote: “It was hard to hear the lady and gentleman because they sounded muffled. Also there was crackles. I could hear some of the broadcast. The song sounded somewhat OK.”

A: We’re sorry for your inconvenience and will forward your report to our technicians to try to solve the problem. We hope to get more feedback from you. Thank you, Mr. Skinner.

B: SB Sharma of India expressed his interest in our story about marriage ceremonies  in Lao Cai province. He wrote: “We have a great interest in Vietnamese culture and tradition. VOV is continuously introducing news and information about the culture and traditions of Vietnamese families in different parts of the country. In this connection you introduced marriage ceremony rules and traditions in Lao Cai province. Every step of the marriage ceremony is well described. Dressing the bride and groom is costly affair just as in an Indian marriage ceremony. Thank you very much for your good work.”

A: Thank you, Mr. Sharma, for your regular comments on our programs. We will continue to cover Vietnamese culture, traditions, customs and daily life in our shows. Keep tuning in.

B: We’d like to acknowledge emails from Shivendu Paul of India. In his email to us this week, he wrote: “Last week on 2,3,4,6,and 7 of November. I listened to the VOV English program and  received moderate reception UTC 1600-1630,  7220 khz on my Grundig YB 80 receiver in Murshidabad, West Bengal India. Every day I follow the VOV website. I get up-to-date information about Vietnam and the world. The VOV website is very nice and well designed. But on the VOV Media Apps I cannot listen to the VOV5 English LIVE program. I could listen to programs in other languages but not English program. The same is true on your website. “ 

A: Shivendu Paul told us that he has sent emails, his entries to our “What do you know about Vietnam?” contest,  a listeners satisfaction survey, and multiple reports to our old email address. 

B: If you cannot hear our programs on our website, please check your internet connection. We’re very appreciative of your participation and are very sorry if anything got lost because it was sent to our old email address. We hope to continue to receive your feedback at our new email address’s englishsection@vov.vn.

A: We’d like to acknowledge an email of Reidar Bo from Norway who listened to our broadcast on February 7 from 16:00 to 16:30 UTC. He wrote: “I heard you on the shortwave frequency of 7280 kHz with very good reception (SINPO 44544 to 34533). The reception on the other frequency for Europe, 9730 kHz, was not very good. I particularly liked the news bulletin from a Vietnamese point of view. It is always very interesting to listen to news bulletins from different countries. Both the way you present the news and what you choose as the headlines. As the reception quality of your shortwave transmission seems to be very good I will continue to listen to your broadcasts in the future. I am looking forward to more news and information about Vietnam.”

B: We’d like to welcome Mr. Ariel Osvaldo Torres of Argentina to the Voice of Vietnam. “My name is Ariel Osvaldo Torres. I'm a 52-year-old Argentine journalist. I’m writing to tell you that I have had the pleasure of listening to the Voice of Vietnam in Buenos Aires, Argentina, during its transmissions in English on the frequency of 9840 khz, in shortwave, 31 meters band. It has been a real satisfaction for me to hear the station here in my country, because Vietnam is very far from Argentina! This was the first time that I’ve heard The Voice of Vietnam. For this reason, I am sending a reception report, which I hope will be useful to the Voice of Vietnam`s technical department. “

A: Thank you all for sending us your detailed reception reports and feedback on our stories on shortwave, our mobile app VOV Media, our Facebook Fanpage VOV5 English Service,  and at vovworld.vn, We welcome your feedback at: English Service, VOVWorld, the Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Or you can email us at our new email address: englishsection@vov.vn. Once again, thank you all for listening.