Beacon

Beacons are fires lit on hills or high places, used either as lighthouses for navigation at sea, or for signalling over land that enemy troops are approaching, and alerting the defence. In the latter form, beacons are an ancient form of optical telegraph and always used in relay leagues.

Beacons have often been abused by pirates. A fire at a wrong position was used to direct a ship against cliffs or beaches, so the cargo could be looted after the ship sank or ran aground.

In modern technical parlance, a beacon can also be a transmitter used for navigation.

Beacons are aids to navigation devices. Intentionally conspicuous, beacons help guide navigators to their destinations. Beacon types include radar reflectors, radio beacons, sound signals, and visual beacons. Visual beacons range from small, single-pile structures to large lighthouses or light stations and are located on land or in water. Lighted beacons are called lights; unlighted beacons are called daybeacons.

See also Emergency position-indicating rescue beacon.

Beacon is the name of some places in Canada:

• Beacon Corner, Alberta
• Beaconia, Manitoba
• Beacon Heights, Ontario
• Beacon Hill North, Ontario
• Beacon Hill South, Ontario
• Beaconwood, Ontario
• Le Beacon, Quebec
• Border Beacon, Quebec
• Beacon Hill, Saskatchewan

Beacon is the name of some places in the UK, including:

• The Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales
• Barr Beacon
• Beacon, Devon
• Beacon End, Essex
• Beacon Hill, Buckinghamshire
• Beacon Hill, Kent
• The Beacon Way
• Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire

Beacon is also the name (or part of the name) of some places in the United States of America:

• Beacon, New York
• Mount Beacon
• Beacon Falls, Connecticut