A great welcome and setting for our David Brown Tractors event station

Club members often receive a friendly welcome when operating a special event station away from home. But that from the team at the David Brown Tractor Museum at Meltham Mills was exceptional.

Courtesy and helpfulness, evident at every turn, made GB2DBT a pleasure to set up and operate. We were holding the event to celebrate the work of the Tractor Club and its museum, which contains a remarkable collection of vehicles.

The bands weren't at their finest and QRM from hordes of excited visitors made close and careful listening to the TS-590 essential.

But plenty of contacts were made including a concluding QSO with a Tall Ships Race special event station in Aberdeen – neat callsign, GB0ATS – with Gerald, G3SDY at the mic.

We were supported at the event by Ian, 2E0ISD, Jerry, M5JB, Vickie, Darran, G0BWB, Jean, G0PLV, Brian, G0BFJ, Barry G4TML, Gerald and Robert M0PIE.

Our OCF dipole, the Spiderbeam Aerial 51, proved effective and easy to erect and while the Meltham Club didn't put out a red carpet, they did put out a red cloth for our ops table.

It was encouraging to meet John Varley one of the Tractor Club's volunteers, whose father is a licensed amateur. John, from Brockholes, has been studying for his Foundation Licence online and we hope he will join us in due course.

To sum up, this a great little museum with excellent facilities including a cafe, a lounge showing various tractor videos and ample parking. It opens on one Sunday each month and is well worth visiting.

Its members extended an invitation for us to return next year – and it was a pleasure to accept. Special thanks go to John Beevers, a brilliant host.