The stop sign anaology is that the implied beacon is sitting out in the middle of nowhere (i.e. deep space).

Actually stop signs on Alabama back roads are famous for being shot at. You see alot of them with bullet and shotgun pellet holes from hunters who did not have much luck but did have a few beers.

Problem with basing beacons on space stations is that the stations are around planets inside the gravity well. If the starship was trying to lock in on it then they would leave the void to close to the planet to stop in time before they overshot the planet.

Again I go to Clarion Station. If a ship is arriving about every 100 to 200 minutes then it leads to the conclusion they are leaving and arriving at other planets at about the same rate. At least the planets closest to Clarion. You could add in a few more since some ships will not stop at Clarion and are just in the system on their way to another system.

How much traffic a beacon would need to deal with can be determined from this. Of course it will also depend on how common space travel is in your SF campaign. Boucne the numbers around.

Not really, Clarion is a high population world so it will get more traffic than a moderate or low populated world. Also noteworthy, as mentioned in the module text every mega-corp has an office on Clarion Station, which adds to the traffic. As such I would postulate that Clarion gets more traffic than the "Hub of the Frontier" (Gran Quivera). They certainly get more traffic than worlds lacking a space station.

Speaking of which, going by canon (and I use the term loosely when referring to Zeb's, however since KH only lists the armed/military stations rather than any/all stations and Zeb's goes into greater detail in that regard...so be it, take a screen shot because it's a Kodak moment when I source Zeb's), there are twelve systems that lack any orbital station of any kind at all --- three of those systems are listed in AD/KH, and lest we forget the Zeb's specs are set half a century+ into the future of the boxed sets. With no stations there's a LOT less traffic, more so considering the limited types of craft that can make planetfall let alone the types of ships that can carry such craft.

I will do some research when I get a chance but I am willing to bet that populations of planets do not exactly match up with the star routes. 

Also noteworthy, SF as written is centered on the mega-corps --- they are the be all/end all source of economic activity in the game --- so having one of each office on your station certainly adds to that boon in traffic. Let's face it, the mega-corps are far more defined in either/both rule sets than the barely mentioned UPF. With Prenglar hailed as the "hub" it's safe to say they have all the players in their station as well (much like Clarion Station). Meanwhile Truane's Star probably only hosts the big boys: PGC, CDC, and of course homegrown Streel at the minimum...Streel-allied MerCo is probable, but the rest would be a crap shoot at best. With the prominence of mega-corps in both versions of the rules (boxed sets and Zeb's), you'd better believe they have an impact on travel through the systems they are posted in. The more you have posted at a particular locale the higher the resulting traffic because, well...they are massive business generators and as such they need both equipment and staff constantly coming in and going out. More mega-corp presences result in even more traffic.

Now put them both together: multiple routes in & out and a heavy mutli-megacorp presence? That is a recipe for high traffic that systems with far less of either could even fantasize about.

I still need to look into the routes and populations and trade items. Just because their are four star routes into a system does not mean it will have more traffic. Trade routes are driven by profit and nothing else. If it is more profitable to go a longer route than merchants will do that.

You seem to doubt me. Than answer me this. If distance and route is the determining factor why is so much made in China and sold in the US? If distance and route was the determining factor than alot more would be made in the US, Canada and Mexico and sold there than in China.

Clarion is specifically listed as an exception in that despite high tariffs there is enough profit to be made to encourage the all the Megacorps to sell there.

Here's a couple of ideas and no reason both cannot be in play at the same time.

In UPF monitored systems the bouys send out a continous stream of information updated regularly. Sort of like the radio weather channel. This way a starship would "tune in" and be able to work their calculations from this information. This is a free service but since this would require a great deal of power and personnel to maintain the system and update the information (yes star system info doesn't change hourly like the weather but updates would still be needed) there might be taxes or tariffs imposed on ships to help pay for it or maybe the cost is paid for by the planet into a fund monitored by the UPF.

Next is one used in Frontier Space where the beacons are set up in the destination system and the starship sends a message to the beacon and then is charged a fee for the information. This fee is variable and set by the governing body of the destination planet. Since there are several different multi-planet governments in Frontier Space it is not always the planet which sets the fees.

Possibly...a recipient might pay more for a particular good in Scree-Fron than they would in Prenglar or White Light, but you'd damned well better be sure of that before making the trip. If the plan is to haul a randomly acquired cargo and beat the docks at the destination, you're better off doing so in Prenglar or White Light. If you have a contracted route (i.e. government charter or mega-corp agreement) then the longer route will certainly pay off.

First off the doubt stems from a claim that "all systems have similar traffic". I merely countered that with a couple of examples. I just don't see remote Truane's Star (megacorp presence or otherwise) or Scree-Fron having the same 100-200 minute arrival/departure rates that White Light and (most likely) Prenglar enjoy. There was also the debate about megacorp contributions relating to traffic flow, to which I see that --- as written --- makes a rather decent impact.

As far as China goes...well, we dug our own graves with that one. So have a lot of other countries. As long as the population on the whole is content with the frequent replacement of disposable-by-design goods (I am obviously in the minority here) and government interests are in place to provide continued support, then China will always thrive with that model.

Let me give an example as to how sneaky China can be: Back around 2003 or thereabouts Honda went into contract with Sundiro Motors in China to produce Chinese made CMX250 Rebel motorcycles rebadged as "Sundiro Spirit"...much like Chevrolet did with their Geo line in the 90's (i.e. the Prizm was a US made Toyota Corolla, the Metro was a US made Suzuki Swift, etc). What enticed Honda into this agreement was the fact that small bore motorcycles (250cc and less) were very prominent in southeast Asian commuter traffic, and what better way to get a vehicle into a local market than have the local market produce the exact same thing at a lower price --- all the while collecting a royalty yet doing absolutely nothing.

It was a great idea, on paper anyways. The reality of the situation is once the contract was signed, Sundiro cloesed their doors. Mysteriously (if you really want to call it that), a few months later...no fewer than half a dozen other Chinese motorcycle manufacturers started belting out Chinese made Rebel clones. Now I don't know exactly how long it takes to tool or retool a production line, but I'd wager it takes a lot more time than the small window we're talking about here in order to get product on the market as quickly as they did. Then, in the midst of all this, Sundiro-Honda Motorcycle Co. surfaced and started belting out the Spirit.

Anyways, it's painfully obvious that "somehow" those legally obtained blueprints ended up in other hands, and after a few more years there were at least a dozen Chinese outfits belting out the bikes...with subcontracters belting out parts (such as Locin Motors along with half a dozen other outfits made the engines). Yamaha fell into the same trap a few years later with their XV250 Virago courtesy of a company called "Tank Motors", but those bikes were short lived under Chinese production mostly due to the fact that the original design was quite catankerous to work with as a mechanic...the Rebel is a far more simpler machine that can make even the most aspiring amateur hack mechanic feel like a seasoned pro. 

Now here's the catch...with the Honda selling for $3K (and rising as the yen overpowered the dollar in later years, not to mention the not-recession our government went out of their way to deny the existence of) while the China-clones sold for a full grand less than the Rebel's MSRP. The Rebel is a bullet-proof design, I own four of them and I'm here to tell you they are nigh impossible to kill...I once owned one (a 1986 model) that had worn rings and/or valves and it ran like a champ. I never changed the oil in that bike, merely replacing it as it burned away. I beat the snot out of that bike for years and transferred ownership of it to a friend who enjoyed the bulletproof reliability for a while as well (right up until it got stolen anyways, no doubt someone else is currently enjoying it). 

Naturally that bullet-proof nature didn't carry over with the China-clones. If there's one thing China is good at, it's taking something pure and making it pure crap. Apparently their recycled pot metal didn't hold up to the OEM tolerances Honda established with the Rebel and you were lucky to keep one running inside a year of new-bike purchase. You were even luckier if the place that sold it to you was still in business when it stopped running and came time to honor their factory warranty.

Like I said: disposable. My 1985 Rebel turns 33 next year, it's the oldest vehicle I own, and it runs like clockwork. If it ever stops I have a wide variety of access points for replacement parts. Try to even find a Chinese clone that runs today, China's landfills are full of them and so are ours. If you do happen to find that sole surviving China-clone (I found one last month for $600 in not-running condition and thought it was overpriced), the next big challenge is finding a parts source for it. Sure, you can opt for actual Rebel parts but then you're better off buying the whole Rebel powerplant. You'll probably also want to get an OEM Rebel wiring harness to replace that substandard bulk wiring that came with the clone. But now you've spent close to a grand in cash, and at that point you have a wide variety of used Rebels to choose from that don't need the swapped parts...you get the motor, the wiring harness, and the rest of the bike too with no assembly required

Alas, folks are perfectly happy with that ideal, from their lowly electronic gadgets all the way up to their vehicle options. THAT is the reason why China propsers and American production suffers. Oh, and then there's the unions...but that's another topic for another time.

Subspace transmitter, not radio. It broadcasts a signal rahter than a voice message, much like modern aircarft use with FAA navigation stations spread across the nation(s).

Again, subspace transmission, not videocom. IIRC there is a stipulation as to just how "instant" this is, i.e. there is a delay for the signal that is measured in minutes to receive depending on distance. I'd have to dig that up for more commentary though.

Like the FAA stations, you'd probably need more than one...although for game purposes (i.e. simplicity) it could be one nav-buoy in the general vicinity of each star route's entry/exit point. That way the astrogator could belt out the calculations according to the signals from both biuoys --- the insystem unit as well as the one in the desired arrival system.

It broadcasts in an outward/circular ripple effect rather than as a straight line. It is only sending out a signal (such as a beeping tone, or more aptly a digitized code), not a complicated voice recording.

True, but it's still a far cry better than Traveller where, while jumping takes about the same amount of time, messages are CARRIED by ships rather than transmitted across vast distances. ;)