Orfordness Beacon

2km
1.2miles

N

O

R

T

H

S

E

A

Jetty

'Pagodas'

Orford Ness
National Nature
Reserve

Orfordness Beacon

transmitting
station

Havergate
Island (RSPB)

Cobra Mist

R i v e r   A l d e

R i v e r   O r e

Lighthouse

Castle

  

Orford Ness, Suffolk, showing locations of main sites.^[1]

The Orfordness Rotating Wireless Beacon, known simply as the Orfordness Beacon or sometimes the Black Beacon, was an early radio navigation system introduced by the United Kingdom in July 1929. It allowed the angle to the station to be measured from any aircraft or ship with a conventional radio receiver, and was accurate to about a degree. A second station operating on the same principle was set up to provide wider area coverage and allow two-bearing fixes between Orford Ness and Farnborough Airport. The system was similar to the earlier German Telefunken Kompass Sender and the later Sonne system.