diff --git a/src/main/java/org/qortal/network/RNSNetwork.java b/src/main/java/org/qortal/network/RNSNetwork.java
index 7fe825e5..b941ab98 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/qortal/network/RNSNetwork.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/qortal/network/RNSNetwork.java
@@ -300,6 +300,7 @@ public class RNSNetwork {
         log.info("clientConnected - link hash: {}, {}", link.getHash(), Hex.encodeHexString(link.getHash()));
         RNSPeer newPeer = new RNSPeer(link);
         newPeer.setPeerLinkHash(link.getHash());
+        newPeer.setMessageMagic(getMessageMagic());
         // make sure the peer has a channel and buffer
         newPeer.getOrInitPeerBuffer();
         incomingPeers.add(newPeer);
@@ -370,6 +371,7 @@ public class RNSNetwork {
                     RNSPeer newPeer = new RNSPeer(destinationHash);
                     newPeer.setServerIdentity(announcedIdentity);
                     newPeer.setIsInitiator(true);
+                    newPeer.setMessageMagic(getMessageMagic());
                     addLinkedPeer(newPeer);
                     log.info("added new RNSPeer, destinationHash: {}", Hex.encodeHexString(destinationHash));
                 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/qortal/network/RNSPeer.java b/src/main/java/org/qortal/network/RNSPeer.java
index ce6c5877..2ece7364 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/qortal/network/RNSPeer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/qortal/network/RNSPeer.java
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Random;
 import java.util.concurrent.*;
+import java.util.Arrays;
 
 import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
 import static org.apache.commons.codec.binary.Hex.encodeHexString;
@@ -101,6 +102,7 @@ public class RNSPeer {
     // for qortal networking
     private static final int RESPONSE_TIMEOUT = 3000; // [ms]
     private static final int PING_INTERVAL = 34_000; // [ms]
+    private byte[] messageMagic;  // set in creating classes
     private Long lastPing = null;      // last ping roundtrip time [ms]
     private Long lastPingSent = null;  // time last ping was sent, or null if not started.
     private Map<Integer, BlockingQueue<Message>> replyQueues;
@@ -166,17 +168,18 @@ public class RNSPeer {
         var channel = this.peerLink.getChannel();
         if (nonNull(this.peerBuffer)) {
             log.info("peerBuffer exists: {}, link status: {}", this.peerBuffer, this.peerLink.getStatus());
-            try {
-                this.peerBuffer.close();
-                this.peerBuffer = Buffer.createBidirectionalBuffer(receiveStreamId, sendStreamId, channel, this::peerBufferReady);
-            } catch (IllegalStateException e) {
-                // Exception thrown by Reticulum BufferedRWPair.close()
-                // This is a chance to correct links status when doing a RNSPingTask
-                log.warn("can't establish Channel/Buffer (remote peer down?), closing link: {}");
-                this.peerLink.teardown();
-                this.peerLink = null;
-                //log.error("(handled) IllegalStateException - can't establish Channel/Buffer: {}", e);
-            }
+            return this.peerBuffer;
+            //try {
+            //    this.peerBuffer.close();
+            //    this.peerBuffer = Buffer.createBidirectionalBuffer(receiveStreamId, sendStreamId, channel, this::peerBufferReady);
+            //} catch (IllegalStateException e) {
+            //    // Exception thrown by Reticulum BufferedRWPair.close()
+            //    // This is a chance to correct links status when doing a RNSPingTask
+            //    log.warn("can't establish Channel/Buffer (remote peer down?), closing link: {}");
+            //    this.peerLink.teardown();
+            //    this.peerLink = null;
+            //    //log.error("(handled) IllegalStateException - can't establish Channel/Buffer: {}", e);
+            //}
         }
         else {
             log.info("creating buffer - peerLink status: {}, channel: {}", this.peerLink.getStatus(), channel);
@@ -282,6 +285,8 @@ public class RNSPeer {
     public void peerBufferReady(Integer readyBytes) {
         // get the message data
         var data = this.peerBuffer.read(readyBytes);
+        //var pureData = Arrays.copyOfRange(data, this.messageMagic.length - 1, data.length);
+        log.trace("peerBufferReady - data bytes: {}", data.length);
 
         try {
             Message message = Message.fromByteBuffer(ByteBuffer.wrap(data));
@@ -293,15 +298,17 @@ public class RNSPeer {
                 //    break;
                 
                 case PING:
+                    //log.info("sending PING response");
                     //onPingMessage(this, message);
                     PongMessage pongMessage = new PongMessage();
                     pongMessage.setId(message.getId());
-                    //var peerBuffer = getOrInitPeerBuffer();
-                    this.peerBuffer.write(message.toBytes());
+                    this.peerBuffer.write(pongMessage.toBytes());
                     this.peerBuffer.flush();
                     break;
 
                 case PONG:
+                    //log.info("PONG received");
+                    //break;
 
                 //case PEERS_V2:
                 //    onPeersV2Message(peer, message);
@@ -313,7 +320,8 @@ public class RNSPeer {
                 //    break;
             }
         } catch (MessageException e) {
-            log.error("{} from peer {}", e.getMessage(), this);
+            //log.error("{} from peer {}", e.getMessage(), this);
+            log.error("{} from peer {}", e, this);
         }
         //var decodedData = new String(data);
         //log.info("Received data over the buffer: {}", decodedData);
@@ -539,8 +547,8 @@ public class RNSPeer {
         try {
             log.trace("Sending {} message with ID {} to peer {}", message.getType().name(), message.getId(), this);
             var peerBuffer = getOrInitPeerBuffer();
-            peerBuffer.write(message.toBytes());
-            peerBuffer.flush();
+            this.peerBuffer.write(message.toBytes());
+            this.peerBuffer.flush();
             return true;
         //} catch (InterruptedException e) {
         //    // Send failure
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/qortal/network/task/RNSPingTask.java b/src/main/java/org/qortal/network/task/RNSPingTask.java
index 3c219ddd..b36d2e67 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/qortal/network/task/RNSPingTask.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/qortal/network/task/RNSPingTask.java
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import org.qortal.network.message.Message;
 import org.qortal.network.message.MessageType;
 import org.qortal.network.message.PingMessage;
 //import org.qortal.network.message.RNSPingMessage;
+import org.qortal.network.message.MessageException;
 import org.qortal.utils.ExecuteProduceConsume.Task;
 import org.qortal.utils.NTP;
 
@@ -33,9 +34,17 @@ public class RNSPingTask implements Task {
         //RNSPingMessage pingMessage = new RNSPingMessage();
         PingMessage pingMessage = new PingMessage();
 
-        //var peerBuffer = peer.getOrInitPeerBuffer();
-        //peerBuffer.write(...)
-        //peerBuffer.flush()
+        //try {
+        //    var peerBuffer = this.peer.getOrInitPeerBuffer();
+        //    LOGGER.info("message toBytes: {}", pingMessage.toBytes());
+        //    peerBuffer.write(pingMessage.toBytes());
+        //    peerBuffer.flush();
+        //} catch (IllegalStateException e) {
+        //    //log.warn("Can't write to buffer (remote buffer down?)");
+        //    LOGGER.error("IllegalStateException - can't write to buffer: e", e);
+        //} catch (MessageException e) {
+        //    LOGGER.error(e.getMessage(), e);
+        //}
         peer.getResponse(pingMessage);
 
         //Message message = peer.getResponse(pingMessage);