A roadside beacon system having improved reliability in the face of multi-path fading and the presence of large vehicles or the like which shield or scatter the received signal. The roadside antenna is of the split beam type. In the navigation system on the vehicle, the received signal is divided into two parts. The first part is smoothed and its level detected to determine when the vehicle is approaching an antenna. The remaining signal is then employed directly to detect the null in the transmitted beam when the vehicle passes directly in front of the antenna.