# Beacons, whats their purpose **URL:** \ **Category:** Uncategorized\ **Created:** [December 31, 2018, 10:16am UTC](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/beacons-whats-their-purpose/21095 "2018-12-31T10:16:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EricVdB](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@EricVdB](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/u/EricVdB)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 10:16am UTC](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/beacons-whats-their-purpose/21095/1 "2018-12-31T10:16:37Z")
Hi all, I see on my gateway regular messages coming in from a beacon. As the title says, whats their purpose, for what can that be used? ![image](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/uploads/default/original/3X/9/f/9f53a92dbf7d593df3bcefdfcb5bb7c4ed66298e.png) Kind regards, and an early happy new year 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BoRRoZ](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/user_avatar/www.thethingsnetwork.org/borroz/32/44234_2.png) [@BoRRoZ](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/u/BoRRoZ)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 10:20am UTC](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/beacons-whats-their-purpose/21095/2 "2018-12-31T10:20:48Z")
that’s discussed before on the forum… but I can’t find it 🕶 ---
**Author:** ![arjanvanb](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/user_avatar/www.thethingsnetwork.org/arjanvanb/32/46626_2.png) [@arjanvanb](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/u/arjanvanb)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 10:35am UTC](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/beacons-whats-their-purpose/21095/3 "2018-12-31T10:35:34Z")
Apparently this is used by WirelessThings to test if gateways are still up an running, or maybe to do some discovery. Not too nice at all, I feel. > [@Gateway is receiving the exact same packet for DevAddr "BEACE103" every 10 minutes](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/gateway-is-receiving-the-exact-same-packet-for-devaddr-beace103-every-10-minutes/12581/17): > > If you do a base64 you’ll get : > > BEACE101 ThingsBeaconBrugge01 > BEACE102 ThingsBeaconVreren01 > BEACE103 ThingsBeaconAmsterdam001 > BEACE100 ThingsBeaconBrussel1 > > Owner is WirelessThings (WirelessBelgium) If you copy the actual payloads here, then we can enhance the above list. ---
**Author:** ![EricVdB](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@EricVdB](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/u/EricVdB)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 11:35am UTC](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/beacons-whats-their-purpose/21095/4 "2018-12-31T11:35:49Z")
for BE AC E1 00 payload: 4000E1ACBE00000000EFA2EDA58E19EE0A7BD56C80015B0CC931B8B1 for BE AC E0 01 payload: 4001E0ACBE00000000FF3FFEAEC4583ABF1BE1A9E555258D3B3FFB3D just fyi, the beacons are approximately 25km away from my gateway Eric ---
**Author:** ![arjanvanb](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/user_avatar/www.thethingsnetwork.org/arjanvanb/32/46626_2.png) [@arjanvanb](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/u/arjanvanb)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 11:40am UTC](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/beacons-whats-their-purpose/21095/5 "2018-12-31T11:40:19Z")
> [@EricVdB](#): > > for BE AC E0 01 > payload: 4001E0ACBE00000000FF3FFEAEC4583ABF1BE1A9E555258D3B3FFB3D So that [decodes/decrypts to](https://runkit.io/avbentem/lorawan-packet-decoder/branches/master?data=4001E0ACBE00000000FF3FFEAEC4583ABF1BE1A9E555258D3B3FFB3D&nwkskey=2B7E151628AED2A6ABF7158809CF4F3C&appskey=2B7E151628AED2A6ABF7158809CF4F3C) `4E18A782C05E69CA2759A95E9B4D35 `, which [decodes](http://tomeko.net/online_tools/hex_to_base64.php) to: ```plaintext $ echo -n 4E18A782C05E69CA2759A95E9B4D35 | xxd -ps -r | base64 ThingsBeaconWalem001 ``` ---
**Author:** ![Amedee](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/user_avatar/www.thethingsnetwork.org/amedee/32/39610_2.png) [@Amedee](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/u/Amedee)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 1:32pm UTC](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/beacons-whats-their-purpose/21095/7 "2018-12-31T13:32:55Z")
Right, I am based in Brussels (north) and I get Brussel1 and Walem001 (Mechelen) as well… ---
**Author:** ![EricVdB](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@EricVdB](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/u/EricVdB)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 2:02pm UTC](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/beacons-whats-their-purpose/21095/8 "2018-12-31T14:02:29Z")
I’m based in Oppuurs (now called Puurs-Sint-Amands) ---
**Author:** ![mvdswaluw](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/user_avatar/www.thethingsnetwork.org/mvdswaluw/32/25844_2.png) [@mvdswaluw](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/u/mvdswaluw)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 9:43am UTC](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/beacons-whats-their-purpose/21095/9 "2019-01-04T09:43:20Z")
ThingsBeaconAmsterdam went offline last few days. Are the others still transmitting? ---
**Author:** ![BoRRoZ](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/user_avatar/www.thethingsnetwork.org/borroz/32/44234_2.png) [@BoRRoZ](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/u/BoRRoZ)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 9:45am UTC](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/beacons-whats-their-purpose/21095/10 "2019-01-04T09:45:13Z")
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**Author:** ![BoRRoZ](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/user_avatar/www.thethingsnetwork.org/borroz/32/44234_2.png) [@BoRRoZ](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/u/BoRRoZ)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2019, 9:46am UTC](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/beacons-whats-their-purpose/21095/11 "2019-01-04T09:46:09Z")
see [Gateway is receiving the exact same packet for DevAddr "BEACE103" every 10 minutes](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/gateway-is-receiving-the-exact-same-packet-for-devaddr-beace103-every-10-minutes/12581)