E D X P

VIETNAM: A NEW BROADCASTING ERA By Bob Padula, Melbourne, Australia Originally published in the Electronic DX Press (Updated to December 2000)

Author's note: Much of the technical background for this story was gleaned from a three week trip to Asia in June 2000. The nine-day Vietnam sector commenced in Ho Chi Minh City, and concluded in Hanoi, and I travelled by mini-bus, ferry, car, taxi, cyclo, boat, aircraft, and on foot. The trip was an escorted tour undertaken with a small group of Australians, during the hottest period of the year, with daytime maximum temperatures around 40 degrees C, and evening temperatures falling only occasionally below 30 degrees. Humidity was extreme, running between 90 and 95% for most of the journey. Monitoring was carried out with the small Sangean ATS808A portable receiver, using 3 metres of antenna, from Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An (near Da Nang), Hue, Ha Long Bay, and Hanoi. Additional monitoring was from Eastern Malaysia (Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan), and in Peninsular Malaysia (Langkawi Island, Kuala Lumpur).

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE. The date of April 30, 1975, will long be remembered by many. It was on that day that Saigon fell, and some of us will recall the graphic TV images of Russian talks forcing down the gates of the Presidential Palace, and of the last helicopters leaving from the roof of the US Embassy. That day marked the demise of South Vietnam and its government. General Duoung Van Minh, South Vietnam's President for just 24 hours, surrendered to the Northern forces minutes later. In the quarter century since, Ho Chi Minh City has emerged from the ruins, and flourishes as the contemporary commercial capital of Vietnam.

The Presidential Palace has been preserved and maintained, known as the "Reunification Hall", and is now used mainly for ceremonial functions. I visited this building, and the basement contains Nguyen Van Thieu's (president from 1967-1975) War Operations Rooms. The rooms have the original floor to ceiling maps and charts, showing in enormous detail the location of military assets and population distribution. Adjacent are other preserved offices, in which there is an astonishing collection of 1975 communications equipment on view: this includes rack-mounted HF transmitters, receivers, teleprinter facilities, telecommunications and telephone gear, switchboards, antenna couplers, and power supplies, just as it was during the regime.

The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is an S-shaped country, with Ho Chi Minh City at the south, and the capital, Hanoi to the north. Ho Chi Minh City is bordered by the Saigon River to the east and a flat plain stretching as far as Phnom Penh in Cambodia, 245 km to the west. About 100 km to the southwest is the Mekong Delta, one of the richest rice-growing areas of the world, where it widens as it enters the South China Sea. Vietnam's population is about 75 million, with some 3 million resident in Hanoi.

The country has about 1000 km of coastline, reaching to the southern border of China. It is only 100 km from Hanoi to the Chinese border, and a further 1900 km to Nanning, the capital of Yunnan Province.

Vietnam is extremely ethnically diverse and complex, with the Vietnamese forming by far the largest group, comprising almost 90% of the population. There are some 54 ethnic groups throughout Vietnam, as well as the Viet Kieu - Vietnamese living abroad. It is believed that the Vietnamese peoples originate from immigrant groups from southern China.

The official language is Vietnamese, part of the Viet-Muoung sub\branch of the mon-Khmere (Austro-Asiatic) language family. It is a tonal monosyllabic language written with a Roman script with tonal markings, developed by Jesuit missionaries.

Vietnam has at various times been influenced by Confucianism, Taoism,. and Mahayana Buddhism. These have been combined, "Vietnamised" and added to indigenous animist beliefs to forma Vietnamese folk religions which is followed across all sectors of society., traditional animist beliefs are still held by many tribal peoples.

Vietnam was a French colony from the mid 1880's, and in the 1940's , even though France fell to the Germans in WW2, an agreement with J Japan enabled the French to continue their administration of Vietnam. In August 1945, Ho Chiu Minh, the founder of the Vietnamese Communist Party and of the Viet Minh, declared Vietnam a Democratic Republic. In July 1954, the French and Vietnamese agreed to partition the country into two states at the 17th parallel. The northern half was known as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, in the hands of Ho Chi Minh, and the southern half was the Republic of South Vietnam, led by the anti Communist Dinh Diem.

The country was devastated by civil war from 1953, with the US being drawn into the conflict in 1963. The American presence, in support of the south, reached a staggering 543,000 in early 1969.

The last American combat troops left Vietnam in 1973, and in April 1975, victorious NVA forces arrived in Saigon. In July 1976, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam was founded, and close to two million people fled Vietnam either by land through Cambodia or by sea as "the boat people" to escape the new regime's economic policies and reprisals.

Some 1 million hectares of land was laid waste by American bombings, by the use of defoliation agents, concentrated attacks by B52s, and napalm, in an attempt to eradicate the Viet Cong guerilla movement, which had set up an enormous network of tunnels and underground living areas across the country. Much of Saigon was totally destroyed.

BROADCASTING DEVELOPMENT. During the 1950's, HF external broadcasting from Saigon was via Radio France Asie, The Voice of France in the Far East, which was widely heard worldwide with programming in English and several other languages. Its operations were sanctioned by the Franco-Vietnamese Convention of 1949, which allowed it to broadcast on Vietnamese Territory. It closed down on February 27, 1956. From 1956 to 1975, broadcasting in the Republic of Vietnam was through the state-run VTVN, which maintained an extensive network of local, regional, and external broadcasting facilities.

In the same era, broadcasting from the north originated from Hanoi, which included external, local and provincial services.

BROADCASTING ACTVITY. The government-operated broadcaster is Dai Tieng Noi Viet Nam (TNVN - Radio The Voice of Vietnam), part of the Vietnam Radio and TV Commission, and its origins can be traced back to August 1945, just before the declaration of independence in September of that year. Its studios and administration centre is in downtown Hanoi, at 58 Quan Su Street, operating from a nondescript building not far from the French Embassy.

TNVN has a number of MF, VHF, and HF stations, located in Hanoi and regional centres. The networks originating from Hanoi are:

Channel 1: Vietnamese, Khmer, H'mong, and Ede - news, current affairs and music, 18 hours daily, on MF, VHF and HF

Channel 2: Vietnamese, Khmer, H'mong and Ede, economic, cultural, social, literature, art, and educational programs, 18 hrs daily, MF and HF

Channel 3: Vietnamese, VHF only

Channel 4: H'mong Network. This service is part of the ethnic minority service, on HF only

Channel 5: English, French, Russian and Vietnamese, news and music for foreigners in Vietnam. This operates on 105.5 MHz, from Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, and Vung Tau

Channel 6: This is the External Service, designated as the Voice of Vietnam International

PROVINCIAL STATIONS. These are located in many centres, using MF, HF and VHF, and their output includes relays of the National Networks from Hanoi, or locally produced programming.

LOCAL BROADCASTING ON MF AND VHF. There is a progressive shift from MF to VHF. A number of main cities have coverage on MF and VHF of the National Networks 1 and 2, and some have their own Provincial services. Some transmitters are dedicated exclusively to either Network 1 or 2, others carry relays at various times, others have a mix of these networks. Most MF services are clustered towards the bottom end of the band, generally below 1000 kHz, and this arrangement was introduced in the 1960's, when many 50/100 kW MF transmitters were brought on line by the Republic of Vietnam Government. This was similar to the frequency distribution matrix which had been introduced for MF stations in the north.

Operation at the low frequency end of the MF band is no accident, being intentionally arranged to optimise long distance coverage during daylight hours. Frequencies used today by many existing stations are identical to channels in use back in the 1960s, taking into account the slight adjustments made as a result of Region 3 (Asia/Pacific) moving to 9 kHz channel separation in the late 1970's.

The MF and VHF bands are sparsely populated. There are no "private" or "commercial" stations authorised, and transmissions are limited to the National Networks 1 and 2, and Provincial services. In several places, broadcasts from neighbouring provinces are audible during local daytime on MF, and even on VHF, due to the relatively short propagation distances. MF transmissions from China, Laos, Cambodia, Taiwan, Philippines, and Singapore are also audible during the day, for propagation distances of up to about 200 km. In Hanoi, only six VHF stations were audible. In Hoi An (near Da Bang) only two local MF stations were audible during the day, carrying the National Networks 1 and 2. In Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, five MF stations were available during the day at each locality. Vietnamese frequency planning provides for multiple transmitters on the same MF and VHF channels, at various towns and cities, carrying the same network.

From late afternoon and continuing throughout the evening, the MF band becomes a cacophony of sounds, with every channel occupied by at least one station, from virtually every country in Asia! As the evening progresses, and the terminator extends to the west, stations in Siberia, India, the Korean Peninsular, Pakistan, and the independent Central Asian republics become audible.

HF RELAYS. There are five high powered HF transmitters on the air continuously from 2200-1600, using 5925, 5970, 6020, 7115 and 7210, carrying relays of the National and Provincial Networks. These transmitters, and their associated antennas, are believed to be relatively recent installations, as frequency stability, signal effectiveness, and modulation quality are assessed as very good. For many years, transmitters carrying relays of the Domestic Services had previously operated on a variety of out-of-band, oddball channels above 10 MHz such as 10044, 10068, 12035, 15012, 10225 and 10020, but those facilities have been diverted to jamming of the Vietnamese broadcasts emanating from Radio Free Asia. Frequencies in use for the presumed new facilities mentioned above are lower than what had been used in the past, to minimise "shadow" blockage caused by skip effects. It should be noted that Vietnam is about 1000 km from north to south, and day and night/day coverage across such relatively short distances is optimised by the use of frequencies below 10 MHz.

At least two of these transmitters are co-sited - 6020 and 7210, as low level spurious radiations were noted on 6005/6035, and 7195/7225, corresponding to carrier +/- 15 kHz. The spur on 6035 causes interference to the Vietnamese network of the Yunnan BS, at Kunming, during morning and evening periods.

Transmitter locations for these five outlets are not known. Based on monitoring observations from Vietnam and Malaysia, as well as from my home location in Melbourne, Australia, I believe that the general sites are as follows:

7210	south, likely near Ho Chi Minh City	7115	north, likely near Hanoi
6020	south, likely near Ho Chi Minh City	5920	north, likely near Hanoi
5970	south, likely near Ho Chi Minh city

7115 experiences annoying interference from co-channel Radio Thailand for the entire broadcast span, and also from the Voice of America, Iranawila, Sri Lanka, from *0100-0300* with its English service. That VOA transmission is actually beamed 334 degrees into the Middle East area, and has a very strong back lobe radiation signal to the south east, across Indonesia, and Indo-China. 7115 also is disturbed by co-channel All India Radio, at port Blair, during its afternoon service abound 0700.

All five channels carry the National Network news from Hanoi at 2300-2315. Between 1200-1230, corresponding to 7pm local time, there are four separate programs, carrying the following services:

The schedule for each outlet is complex, as each frequency is not dedicated permanently to a particular "Network". Obviously, there is some sort of overall plan, but I couldn't determine what it was, and it appeared to me that the actual network relayed was almost random, differing from hour to hour and day to day. It is understood that these five transmitters are intended for general reception, and also serve as HF in-band feeders, for providing primary or secondary (back up) programming for MF and HF broadcasts to the Provincial stations in remote areas, many of which do not have direct transmission links to Hanoi.

H'MONG NETWORK. This originates from Hanoi, and is available only on HF. It uses two frequencies, 6165 and 5035, signing on at 2200 for the morning service until 2300 close. There is also a midday service (0500-0600) and an evening release (1200-1330). H'mong is also known as Miao, and is spoken by some 4.5 million people in southern China, Vietnam, northern Laos, and Thailand.

Prior to reunification in 1976, the former Republic of South Vietnam broadcasting facilities were quite extensive, known as the Broadcasting System of Vietnam. The Republic actually extended quite some distance to the North, to at least 17 degrees N, which including the cities of Da Lat, Nha Trang, Hue, Da Nang, quin Hon, Ban Me Thuot, Can Tjo, and Quang Ngai. Several high power HF transmitters were sited near Ho Chi Minh City, of up to 200 kW, and the Voice of America operated its MF station from Hue, on 760 kHz. MF and VHF outlets in the South were taken over by the incoming communist controlled northern government in 1976, known as "Liberated Radio Ho Chi Minh City". The HF outlets from Ho Chi Minh City vanished after 1976, and were believed to have been destroyed. They formerly operated on such frequencies as 4877 6165 7175 7245 9620 and 9755.

As far as can be determined, the only local HF station operating from the area which was formerly the Republic of Vietnam is located in Gia Lai Province, which sits between the 13th and 14th parallels.

EXTERNAL SERVICES. It is believed that two principal HF sites are in use for External Broadcasting. The first is at Son Tay (with two 100 kW transmitters), located about 30 km NW of Hanoi. Son Tay is in Ha Tay Province, which borders the Hanoi region. The second site is at Mi Tri, about 5 km SW of Hanoi, with one 50 kW transmitter. TNVN advises that the total official HF transmitter deployment is eleven, believed to comprise the three units used for External Broadcasts, five transmitters for the National Service relays, and two transmitters carrying the H'Mong Network, and one "spare". Only two transmitters are in use from the Son Tay site at any given time for the External Service broadcasts.

Available antennas at Son Tay are at 36, 57, 140, 177, 290 and 320 degrees.

In recent years, the number of Vietnamese-based transmitters used for the External Service has been reduced, and reports suggest that these have been diverted for jamming of Radio Free Asia broadcasts. The number and location of these are unknown.

The Mi Tri site has the transmitter which operates on the single frequency of 7285, 50 kW, with an antenna azimuth of 216 degrees, and it's used for the external Service:

0000-0030 Cambodian	1130-1200 Thai	1300-1330 Russian	1400-1430 Lao
0030-0100 Lao	1200-1230 Cambodian	1330-1400 Cambodian	1430-1500 Cantonese
1100-1130 English	1230-1300 Lao	1400-1430 Lao	1500-1530 Mandarin

Of particular interest is that output on this frequency has recently been extended, and is now used for relaying National Network programming from Hanoi, when not engaged for the regular External Service. This is from 0100-1100 with relays of Networks 1 or 2. This is to augment national daytime coverage into the southern part of the country of the HF relays on 5925, 5970, 6020, 7115 and 7210. 7285 gave excellent reception during the daytime period throughout Vietnam and all of Malaysia. However, 7285 is also used by Radio Taipei International from 1200-1400 and by the Voice of Asia (Taiwan) 1000-1100.

The regular External Service outlets on 9730, 9840, 12020 and 13740 are regularly heard worldwide, particularly over darkness, or partial-darkness transmission paths.

The following frequencies are in use from Son Tay for the designated External Service transmission blocks, for the international broadcast Summer Period which concludes on the last Sunday in October:

9730	0000-0100	1100-1130	1300-1400	1600-2130
9840	0830-1100	1130-1300	1400-1600	2130-0000
12020	0830-1100	1130-1300	1400-1600	2130-0000
13740	0000-0100	1100-1130	1300-1400	1600-2130

English programming is broadcast at:

1000-1030 9840 12020	1330-1400 9730 13740	1800-1830 9730 13740	2030-2100 9730 13740
1230-1300 9840 12020	1600-1630 9730 13740	1900-1930 9730 13740	2330-0000 9840 12020

There is also a high powered MF transmitter operating on 1242 from Hanoi, between 0900 and 1700, and from 2200-0000, for External Services, carrying programming in Vietnamese, English, Indonesian, Cambodian, Thai, French, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Lao, with some of this output in parallel with the HF External Services.

EXTERNAL SERVICE RELAYS. The Voice of Vietnam uses relays in Canada (Sackville) and Russia (Serpukhov and Moscow) for reaching audiences in the Americas and Europe respectively. Summer frequencies are listed (with alternate winter frequencies and timings):

9695 (winter 9525)(via Sackville): 0100-0130 English 0130-0230 Vietnamese 0230-0300 English	9795 (summer and winter)(via Sackville): 0300-0330 Spanish) 0330-0400 English 0400-0500 Vietnamese
12070 (via Serpukhov)(winter: 7440 via Moscow) 1700-1730 English (winter 1800-1830) 1730-1830 Vietnamese (winter 1830-1930) 1830-1900 French (winter 1930-2000)	12030 (via Serpukhov) (winter: 7390 via Moscow) 1900-1930 Russian (winter 2000-2030) 1930-2030 Vietnamese (winter 2030-2130)

The complete External service schedule is available for viewing or downloading from:

http://www.vov.org/vn/docs1/english/programmes/index1.html

REGIONAL TRANSMITTERS. This is where the story becomes complex! There is a handful of HF stations located in various provinces, mainly in the mountainous regions to the west and north of Hanoi, and one in the south, in Gia Lai Province. These HF outlets present interesting DX targets, as frequency and operating stability is not of a high order! Many of them have been in use for a great many years dating back to the early 1970's. These antiquated facilities carry relays of the National Networks, as well as local and regional programming. They tend to operate for limited periods of up to two hours, typically in the early mornings (commencing at 2200), at mid-mornings (from 0300), and early evening (from about 1000). As well as Vietnamese, languages heard include Lao, Thai, Khmer, and Korean. Relays of the National Networks from Hanoi are also broadcast over these facilities at various times. They do not appear to be official transmitters operated by TNVN.

Stations known to be on the air are as follows:

4212 Lai Chau Province 4722 Gia Lai Province 4796 So'n La Province 5595 Lao Cai Province

6347 Yen Bai Province 6382 Lai Chau Province 6451 Thai Nguyen Province

6500 Cao Bang Province 6695 Lao Cai Province 7156 Ha Giang Province

Actual locations of these transmitters are not known, but identification announcements at the start of each broadcast usually give the name of the Province, and often the town or city. Accurate identification can be quite difficult, due to the similarity of some words to our Western ears. Note that many Provinces take the same name as the main town or city (such as S'On La, Lai Chau, Lao Cai, Ha Giang). An exception to this is Gia Lai Province, whose capital city is Play Ku.

Announcements usually are of the form:" Day la dai phat thanh...(station name)".

Operating frequencies of most of these transmitters vary from hour to hour, and from day to day, with fluctuations of up to 50 kHz! Some are not on the air each day, and broadcast times are subject to constant change.

Reports of Vietnamese HF regional stations located in other Provinces appear from time to time in the hobby press, but often turn out to be drifting transmitters of existing stations, or broadcasters from other parts of Asia. There has never been any "official" information provided by the Vietnamese authorities on these HF operations, either pre-, or post-Reunification. The outlet believed to be in Gia Lai Province was first reported in the early 1980's.

It should be noted that not all broadcasts in Vietnamese in the 5 MHz band are from Vietnam! The Yunnan Broadcasting Station, at Nanning, transmits special external transmissions in Vietnamese on 6035 and 5035 at 2200-0130 and 1000-1300, which are often mis-identified as from Vietnam. China Radio International broadcasts in Vietnamese six times daily, at various times, using 5260 as a feeder frequency.

QSLs. At present, the Voice of Vietnam responds readily to correct DX reports for its External Broadcasts, sending a copy of its latest External Service schedule with the QSL.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS. TNVN is continuing with an expansive plan to upgrade the state of radio broadcasting technology across the country. There is improvement to program production and transmission facilities, adoption of computerisation and digital technologies, moving towards implementing Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) within ten years.

In 1999, TNVN was concentrating its expansion plans on its program-production facilities. The broadcaster signed a contract with Studer to supply and install a complete radio broadcasting system for the new TNBVN Broadcasting H House/the new eight-story facility is located next to the existing broadcast centre in Hanoi. When complete, the new Broadcasting House will be fully DAB-ready.

Studer will install more than 200 workstations including 70 audio workstations running Dalet broadcasting software and 120 news terminals running Dalet TeamNews software. It will also be fitted with more than 10 broadcast consoles and a complex MADI channel matrix TDM routing system. The router network will provide a fibre-optic interface between the new and existing systems.

The new systems will enable TNVN reporters to create more programming as well as better quality programs. The digitisation of the Broadcasting House is part of a plan to make TNVN fully digital by 2010. The broadcaster plans to initiate a DAB pilot project in 2001.

This is not the first step TNVN has taken towards employing digital working methods. Already, the broadcaster produces a daily Web-based on-demand news service at: http://www.vov.org.vn/ with updates in Vietnamese and English.

Currently, TNVN radio broadcasts reach 87% of the population, and 69& of the area. Its official transmission network is advised as consisting of 19 MF, 11 HF, and eight VHF transmitters. Programming is fed to the transmitters via a variety of methods, including cable, microwave, relay stations, and repeaters.

TELEVISION. Television Vietnam is a separate entity from TNVN. Currently, it operates three channels - VTV1, 2, and 3. In Hanoi, three other stations are available: HTV7, HTV9, and MMDS. Satellite channels include Discovery, ESPN, and Star Movies, and Australia TV.

Foreign language output may be viewed on these channels:

VTV1	English and French programming, including films and sports;
VTV2	English lessons and news, and French news
VTV3	sports and English features
HTV7	sports, cartoons, drama, and features in various languages, including English, Vietnamese
MMDS	includes Chinese and Japanese features
Australia TV	this is satellite based, and is also designated as "C7". It is essentially the Australia Channel 7 Network, and includes slightly-delayed broadcasts of Australian Rules Football, Channel 7 News, Channel 7 soapies, and similar material. There is advertising for retail development opportunities in Melbourne, portraying this city as a wonderful place, with gardens, beaches, and mountains! It was interesting to sit back and watch AFL games live, without the frustration of commercial breaks after each goal is scored!

FUTURE OF EXTERNAL BROADCASTING. I spoke with the Director of the Voice of Vietnam, who told me that there is a continuous review being undertaken of the cost effectiveness of the various leased relays currently in use, from facilities in Canada and Russia. New relays may be introduced, and some deleted, particularly for augmenting coverage into the Americas and Europe. The Internet is regarded as a prime means of distribution of information and entertainment to the global community outside of Vietnam, and is being strongly developed. No plans exist for upgrading or extending HF broadcasting facilities within Vietnam itself for external services.

CONCLUSION. The Vietnamese Government, through TNVN, is strongly committed to modernising its national radio broadcasting infrastructure, and its technological development plans are to be commended. Australia is providing assistance, financial aid, and support in technology training, particularly for transmission planning/ installation/ and service operations, and state-of-the-art studio equipment is being progressively acquired and commissioned. Terrestrial external broadcasting may not be as extensive or visible as that of other Asian countries, but positive efforts are being made to develop, and maintain, a reasonable, strategic and modest presence globally through the mix of leased HF relays, Internet-delivered programming, and direct MF and HF transmissions.