Radio beacon

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Telegraph Signal Tower at Cobb's Hill, near New Market, Virginia, 1864.

A radio beacon is non-directional transmitter that usually transmits a constant signal on a specified radio frequency.

Before the days of VOR, GPS, LORAN, beacons were used with direction finding equipment to find ones relative bearing to a known location (the beacon).

There are several different kinds of beacons. In aviation there is a beacon called NDB or Non-directional Beacon. These are used to help find airports and conduct instrument approaches. These beacons will be decommissioned over the next few years as they have been replaced with newer better technologies. There also in the past were marine beacons for use at sea, but most cases these no longer are in service. There are also amateur radio beacons that are used to test propagation of radio signals. Beacons are also used in both geostationary and inclined orbit satellites. Any satellite will emit one or more beacons (normally at a fixed frequency) whose purpose is twofold; as well as containing modulated station keeping information, the beacon is used to 'find' the satellite in the sky. Any AM, VHF, or UHF radio station can also be used as a beacon with direction finding