Full Freeview on the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter
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The symbol shows the location of the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter which serves 2,690,000 homes. The bright green areas shown where the signal from this transmitter is strong, dark green areas are poorer signals. Those parts shown in yellow may have interference on the same frequency from other masts.
Are there any planned engineering works or unexpected transmitter faults on the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) mast?
Winter Hill transmitter - Winter Hill transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 11/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels 
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Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
DTG-8 64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
DTG-12 QSPK 8K 3/4 8.0Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
DTG-2 16QAM 2K 3/4 18.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
Which Freeview channels does the Winter Hill transmitter broadcast?
If you have any kind of Freeview fault, follow this Freeview reset procedure first.Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
| Mux | H/V | Frequency | Height | Mode | Watts |
| PSB1 BBCA | H max | C32 (562.0MHz) | 726m | DTG- | 100,000W |
 1 BBC One (SD) North West, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 17 others | |||||
| PSB2 D3+4 | H max | C34 (578.0MHz) | 726m | DTG- | 100,000W |
 3 ITV 1 (SD) (Granada), 4 Channel 4 (SD) North ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 North ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Granada), 71 That’s 60s, | |||||
| PSB3 BBCB | H max | C35- (585.8MHz) | 726m | DTG- | 100,000W |
 46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD North West, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Granada), 104 Channel 4 HD North ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 107 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others | |||||
| COM4 SDN | H max | C29 (538.0MHz) | 726m | DTG-8 | 100,000W |
 20 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 U&Dave ja vu, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 Rok Sky +1, plus 29 others | |||||
| COM5 ArqA | H max | C31 (554.0MHz) | 726m | DTG-8 | 100,000W |
 11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 U&Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 U&Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 &UYesterday +1, 76 That's TV 2 MCR, 233 Sky News, plus 13 others | |||||
| COM6 ArqB | H max | C37 (602.0MHz) | 726m | DTG-8 | 100,000W |
 12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! romance mix, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's 90s, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others | |||||
| LM | H -20dB | C40 (626.0MHz) | 572m | DTG-12 | 1,000W |
 from 1st October 2014: 7 That's Manchester, | |||||
| LL | H -17dB | C24 (498.0MHz) | 572m | DTG-12 | 2,000W |
 from 30th June 2014: 7 Bay TV Liverpool, | |||||
| LPR | H -20dB | C56 (754.0MHz) | 572m | DTG-12 | 1,000W |
 from 1st October 2014: 7 That's Lancashire, | |||||
| GIM | H -20dB | C57 (762.0MHz) | 572m | DTG-2 | 1,000W |
 Now 90s, Spotlight TV, Clubland TV, Country Music Entertainment , Classic Hits MCR, 77 That's 60s MCR, 78 TCC, 80 That's 80s, 86 That's 90s MCR, 88 TV Warehouse+1, | |||||
DTG-12 QSPK 8K 3/4 8.0Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
DTG-2 16QAM 2K 3/4 18.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Winter Hill transmitter?
BBC North West Tonight 3.1m homes 11.8%
from Salford M50 2QH, 22km southeast (140°)
to BBC North West region - 92 masts.
ITV Granada Reports 3.1m homes 11.6%
from Salford M50 2EQ, 22km southeast (139°)
to ITV Granada region - 80 masts.
How will the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1956-80s | 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2009 | 2009-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-17 | 20 Feb 2020 | ||
| VHF | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E T | W T | W T | ||
| C9 | ITVwaves | ||||||||
| C12 | BBCtvwaves | ||||||||
| C24 | _local | ||||||||
| C29 | SDN | ||||||||
| C31 | com7 | com7 | |||||||
| C32 | BBCA | ||||||||
| C34 | D3+4 | ||||||||
| C35 | BBCB | ||||||||
| C37 | com8 | com8 | |||||||
| C40 | LOCAL2 | ||||||||
| C48 | C5waves | C5waves | |||||||
| C49tv_off | ArqA | ArqA | |||||||
| C50tv_off | BBCA | BBCA | |||||||
| C54tv_off | -BBCB | -BBCB | -BBCB | ||||||
| C55tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | ArqB | ArqB | ArqB | com7tv_off | ||
| C56tv_off | _local | _local | _local | LPR | |||||
| C57tv_off | GIM | GIM | GIM | GIM | |||||
| C58tv_off | SDN | SDN | SDN | ||||||
| C59tv_off | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | |||
| C61 | ArqA | ||||||||
| C62 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | |||||
| C65 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves |
tv_off Being removed from Freeview (for 5G use) after November 2020 / June 2022 - more
Table shows multiplexes names see this article;
green background for transmission frequencies
Notes: + and - denote 166kHz offset; aerial group are shown as A B C/D E K W T
waves denotes analogue; digital switchover was 4 Nov 09 and 2 Dec 09.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 500kW | |
| SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 100kW | |
| com7 | (-12.9dB) 25.7kW | |
| com8 | (-13.4dB) 22.6kW | |
| Analogue 5 | (-16dB) 12.5kW | |
| Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D* | (-17dB) 10kW | |
| LL | (-24dB) 2kW | |
| GIM, LM, LPR | (-27dB) 1000W |
Local transmitter maps
Winter Hill Freeview Winter Hill DAB Winter Hill AM/FM Winter Hill TV region BBC North West GranadaWhich companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Winter Hill transmitter area
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Sunday, 7 August 2022
C
Chris.SE12:20 AM
Neil Scragg:
There is not normally any reduction in power / signal strength at any specific time.
Are you monitoring just signal strength or are you also checking signal quality/Bits Error Rate? Are there any changes there.
If the quality is dropping or BER increasing and signal decreasing at exactly the same time everyday then it's more likely that this is some form interference from some equipment or maybe discharge lighting, controlled by a time switch. It may not be yours but a near neighbour or eg. street lighting but perhaps 2300 is a bit late for the latter.
Is this affecting all multiplexes or eg. just one or two. When it happens does it remain "stable" or is it continually fluctuating?
Whilst Winter Hill isn't currently listed for Planned Engineering, that doesn't mean work is not going on, the lists aren't always 100% but again it's not likely to be exactly the same time each day.
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Neil Scragg7:09 AM
Chris.SE: hi, it was just something that seemed a pretty consistent occurance on all multiplexes, but not giving me a problem. I was originally getting a problem on mainly ch29 stuff so revolve tv (old @800) sent me a triax ch48 649mhz filter, I come to the conclusion the masthead amp wa playing up anyway...so I swapped it out for an antiference brand fully screened 4way ch 48 amp, I originally put the filter inline before the amp aswell, but I took it out yesterday as I thought it wasn't really necessary...and just a further insertion loss. Signal.quality is good and only one notch down on the signal strength indicator within the tv menu around the time I was noticing. So all good for now
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C
Chris.SE2:19 PM
Neil Scragg:
It could just be weather conditions. TV set signal level indicators can jump up and down slightly between levels if the signal is on the cusp so to speak.
Ideally signal quality should be 100% and if it remains there, lower signal strengths shouldn't be an issue.
It sounds like you might be in a slightly difficult signal area which won't help, but as long as the quality remains high, it shouldn't be a problem if it doesn't cause pixellation or sound issues.
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Sunday, 4 September 2022
T
Tony9:58 AM
PROBLEM WITH CHANNEL 32 FROM WINTER HILL TRANSMITTER FROM 31 AUGUST 2022
EPG faulty from 30th August 2022 on Sony had 870 dvd recorder But my Sony TV is OK , reset and retune doesn't work on either box , perfectly OK on bank Holiday Monday, so it's either planned work , or an upgrade , or a faulty digital epg knocking out older equipment, like has happened previously, yet no reports of planned work or faults , is it still Arquiva ? Please fix it ASAP , Tony ,Rochdale , OL126DL
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T
Tony10:00 AM
EPG faulty from 30th August 2022 on Sony had 870 dvd recorder But my Sony TV is OK , reset and retune doesn't work on either box , perfectly OK on bank Holiday Monday, so it's either planned work , or an upgrade , or a faulty digital epg knocking out older equipment, like has happened previously, yet no reports of planned work or faults , is it still Arquiva ? Please fix it ASAP , Tony ,Rochdale , OL126DL
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Chris.SE1:55 PM
Tony:
Can't find any faults listed and it's not currently listed for Planned Engineering!
As you appear to be aware, these sort of issues have occurred before, they never seem to get listed as faults etc. Poster @js used to post regularly about such things but not seen any posts for over a year.
It's Digital UK (part of Freeview) who are responsible for the EPG, but I suspect it could be a case of banging one's head against a wall trying to complain to Freeview, as all their "help" seems to be able to do is tell you to/how to retune!!
If it's continuous, it's obviously an error in the EPG which may get "corrected" as the EPG updates. If it appeared one day and then went, it could have been weather conditions, there's been some variable Tropospheric Ducting around for a while which has occasionally caused short term interference.
If it remains a persistent, I'd try and find an email address for Digital UK and moan at them about it!
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Saturday, 10 September 2022
J
js12:54 AM
Tony:
This is the same fault in the EPG data - Slashless CRIDs- that brought down SONY DVD recorders in 2013.
The current culprit is GREAT! tv +1 - off the GIM multiplex - Winter Hill UHF Channel 27.
If you can avoid tuning that multiplex in, you may be ok.
This channel is also on Freesat with the same faulty data.
The equivalent data off GREAT! Tv does not have any error..
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Chris.SE1:12 AM
js:
Thanks for the detailed update, much appreciated, hope Tony sees it, and hope you are well.
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Saturday, 8 October 2022
Why, virtually every weekend do I lose all my freeview channels?
This happens time & time again, do they turn down signal strength at certain times?
It is now 13.45 & I've been without channels for a while now & it is very frustrating.
It isn't my aerial as that is quite new & it only happens at weekends so it can't be a coincidence.
I'm in the CH62 area on the Wirral.
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Sunday, 9 October 2022
C
Chris.SE12:34 PM
D. Worwood:
I had given you a reply, I don't know what happened to it, I'll try again in a minute, I may post it in more than one part! (This site does have a word censor, I can't imagine why that wold have trapped it").
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