In order to get a Ham Radio license in Vietnam, XV2A Bac Ai was the entry point for foreigners giving a very precious help to all of us to get our licenses.
Nevertheless you could apply a license from your side.
While requesting the license from abroad can be a bit challenging especially regarding one of the document to get it is still workable and I will explain here how to do it.
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)
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.
I am missing one part at the bottom where we are supposed to say how the payment will be made and extra information such as how to get the license. The easier way is of course once you arrive in Vietnam to go and pick up the license at the frequency department and pay in cash over there. If you have a way to make a bank transfer it may also be workable.
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 $US 1 / 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.