Updated on 11th September 2024
In order to get a Ham Radio license in Vietnam, XV2A Bac Ai is the entry point for foreigners giving a very precious help to all of us to get our licenses. Lately it has been more difficult to reach him due to his advanced age.
You can apply the license from your side but you will still require a stamp and signature provided by Bac Ai for the time being.
This makes the process of applying from abroad almost impossible and you will need to have local help to get the license.
Documents required:
- Copy of the passport (the first page with your photo and the other page in front) certified.
- Copy of the your Ham Radio license
- 2 Forms to be filled (see later in this post) – with a stamp and signature from Bac Ai
The classes:
Class 1: All HF bands / 1KW
Class 2: All HF bands / 200w
License specificities:
It is very important to note that a license in Vietnam is tied up with an address and a transceiver.
One license per transceiver. It is however possible to add one or two addresses on top of the main one.
No portable activity is possible in Vietnam. You should also note that 6M is not allowed in Vietnam.
The Forms:
The first form is related to personal information and is quite easy to fill.
The second one is about all the information about the radio and the operation.
You can download them from here: form 1, form 2.
I have made a translation to explain as much as I could here.
Very important note:
On the form 1 if you want to apply in the Frequency department located in Ho Chi Minh (Thu Duc) you need to put the “permanent address” in the district 2 of Thao Dien. I have applied for license for European Ham radio operator using my address. Putting your address from your home country complicates the process.
The payment can be done by bank transfer and the fees are usually given once the license is issued.
The forms with the certified passport copy and the license can be sent to the below address:
TRUNG TÂM TẦN SỐ VÔ TUYẾN ĐIỆN KHU VỰC II
45 Trần Lựu – P. An Phú – tp.Thủ Đức – Tp.Hồ Chí Minh
The E-Mail address I received the license from was: [email protected]
As far as I know they only speak Vietnamese.
I strongly recommend you to send the documents through DHL, Fedex, UPS or equivalent as post is not really working well for documents in my own experience.
The License:
From the moment you send the documents are received it should take around 3 weeks to get the license issued. It is now an e-license since end of 2023, which means you will not get any document but just an e-mail with the license as attachment.
The cost for the license is VND 20,000 (less than $US1) / Band / Month. To be noted that certain bands count for 2 bands for the administration.
Who can help ?
You can try to contact Bac Ai (XV2A) but lately he has not been responding to e-mails nor text messages nor phone calls.
Currently in Ho Chi Minh as far as I know we are two active hams:
- XV9R Emmanuel
- XV9Q Myself
If need be and if available I can go drop the documents at the frequency department and/or pay the license for you and you can make a payment back to one of my bank account.
Should you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact me by e-mail (on QRZ.com)
Greg! Thank you for this useful and relevant information. Indeed, XV2A and XV2B stopped responding to letters and supporting obtaining a license.
Hi Gran,
Yes indeed, it may still be possible to get the license but we are a bit on our own.
Are you active, I don’t see you much anymore.
Hello. I’m a Vietnamese and brand new to this; what/where should I learn more about this (like the equipment, how to use and how to practice etc)
And also one more question: which organization endorsed your applications? (The person you mentioned above probably belongs to an organization, and that organization should be the one to issue my future license if I decided to be serious about this)
And as you mentioned I can help foreigners to send their application online so feel free to leave me an email should you need any help
Last note: I don’t know if this blog send notifications on your replies so if it doesn’t, please send me an email to remind me at [email protected]
Hello Greg,
Today I visited Mr Bac Ai. I had visited Mr Bac Ai back in 2010 so this was my second visit. As you are probably aware Mr Bac Ai is now 93 years old and is in frail health so I can understand that he has stepped back from direct involvement in Vietnamese Amateur Radio licencing.
I am married to a Vietnamese woman (35 years) and am now retired so my wife and I expect to be spending more time in Vietnam. I am intersted in obtaining my Vetnamese Amateur licence so that I ca operate from our family home here on HCMC.
I will be in HCMC for the next month (November 2025) so perhaps we can arrange an eyeball QSO .
Best 73 from
Peter VK1XP
Sorry I did not see your message before. I left Vietnam December 2024, I am back to France. For the license until the transfer is done from Bac Ai to a new person it is complicated to have a license. You can get in touch with 3W9A or XV9R who may help.