diff --git a/tangostationcontrol/tangostationcontrol/devices/beam.py b/tangostationcontrol/tangostationcontrol/devices/beam.py
index b27e21c8a094ee12e1864b4b2ba25be7670b4e80..e4a85594a0cb9efeb18e0e3eea2d8779814d9197 100644
--- a/tangostationcontrol/tangostationcontrol/devices/beam.py
+++ b/tangostationcontrol/tangostationcontrol/devices/beam.py
@@ -59,8 +59,6 @@ class Beam(lofar_device):
         dtype=(numpy.double,), max_dim_x=96,
         fget=lambda self: self._hbat_pointing_timestamp)
 
-    RECV_name =  'stat/recv/1'
-
     # Directory where the casacore measures that we use, reside. We configure ~/.casarc to
     # use the symlink /opt/IERS/current, which we switch to the actual set of files to use.
     measures_directory_R = attribute(dtype=str, access=AttrWriteType.READ, fget = lambda self: get_measures_directory())
@@ -73,13 +71,11 @@ class Beam(lofar_device):
     # --------
     @log_exceptions()
     def configure_for_initialise(self):
-        # Set a reference of RECV device
-        try:
-            self.recv_proxy = DeviceProxy(self.RECV_name)
-        except:
-            logger.warning("RECV device offline")   # avoid error raising in unittest
         super().configure_for_initialise()
 
+        # Set a reference of RECV device
+        self.recv_proxy = DeviceProxy("STAT/RECV/1")
+
     # --------
     # internal functions
     # --------
diff --git a/tangostationcontrol/tangostationcontrol/test/devices/test_beam_device.py b/tangostationcontrol/tangostationcontrol/test/devices/test_beam_device.py
index 2aa26e1b4a27ab950ca2b5b00c8c77a20950fc38..74bdf3eec9a7e01d541ae53eed391114f00bee41 100644
--- a/tangostationcontrol/tangostationcontrol/test/devices/test_beam_device.py
+++ b/tangostationcontrol/tangostationcontrol/test/devices/test_beam_device.py
@@ -31,6 +31,13 @@ class TestBeamDevice(base.TestCase):
             beam.Beam, 'init_device', spec=beam.Beam.init_device)
         self.m_init = init_patcher.start()
         self.addCleanup(init_patcher.stop)
+
+        # Patch DeviceProxy to allow making the proxies during initialisation
+        # that we otherwise avoid using
+        proxy_patcher = mock.patch.object(
+            beam, 'DeviceProxy')
+        self.m_init = proxy_patcher.start()
+        self.addCleanup(proxy_patcher.stop)
     
     def test_get_pointing_directions(self):
         """Verify can read pointings attribute and length matches without err"""