Full Freeview on the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter
Brian Butterworth first published this on - UK Free TV
Google Streetview | Google map | Bing map | Google Earth | 53.625,-2.516 or 53°37'30"N 2°30'56"W | BL6 6SL |
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.
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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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Saturday, 1 July 2023
J
js1:42 PM
Steve Donaldson: I agree with all you have said and yes, I think it does apply.
From the specification:
ETSI TS 102 323 V1.5.1 (2012-01)
Technical Specification
Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB);
Carriage and signalling of TV-Anytime information in DVB transport streams
From Page 28:
6.3 Default authority and abbreviated CRIDs
6.3.1 Abbreviated CRID rules
In certain situations described in the present document a CRID string may use the following abbreviated forms. These reduce the overhead of a CRID string by leaving out information that can be inferred from the location of the CRID entry.
Firstly, the characters "crid://" may be omitted from the start of the string so that the string starts with the first character of the CRID authority. So the example CRID:
crid://company.com/foobar
may be encoded as:
company.com/foobar
Additionally, within the scope of the definition of a default authority (see clause 6.3.2), the CRID authority part of the string may also be omitted if the CRID's authority matches the current value of default authority. In this case the string starts with the delimiter between CRID authority and data parts of the CRID (i.e. "/"). Therefore, the example CRID:
crid://company.com/foobar
may be encoded as:
/foobar
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S
Steve5:07 PM
js & Steve Donaldson. Hi both. I'll leave the technical stuff to your good selves. But just to add that in my case, as a result of having 3 identical recorders, I was able to know instantly that it was not the devices at fault. So I was able to choose to experiment to resolve the problem. Had I had only one (as will be the case for many owners) then I would probably have assumed it had broken and scrapped it, given the age. It makes me wonder how many owners have scrapped theirs unnecessarily! Whoever caused this problem ought to be informed if at all possible, so they can at least learn from it. Thanks for your interest.
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K
Karl5:32 PM
Steve: That's a great tip to avoid the background channel scans.
Do you find the EPG still populates and is usable when you do that, for example for setting timer recordings?
If CH24 is proving an issue in your case I wonder if a 'Stub' and possibly attenuation as well might help. Get it right and it can provide a high degree of attenuation.
Quarter-wave stub
I have a loft aerial (Group A from Blake) feeding a 4db two way amp in the loft. The feed to the lounge is passively split 3 ways (so about the equivalent of 6db attenuation on each feed) with each feed going to the TV, the Sony recorder and a Panasonic recorder. The Sony will still operate essentially normally on all main channels with a further 15 to 18db attenuation on its already split feed.
I'm 44km from Winter Hill but have no signal on CH24. Just looking and I have channels 29, 31, 32, 34, 37 and 40. Channel 37 is at a lower level (about 70% on the Sony) while all others are around 95%. As I say, stick a 15 or 18db attenuator in the feed and its all still OK.
Have you seen the mammoth thread on AV forums on these Sony's and the update issues?
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S
Steve Donaldson5:47 PM
Is this duff data carried on the main multiplexes, as in PSB1 to 3 and COM4 to 6? I thought that the EPG data for one multiplex was carried on all others so as to facilitate the building up of the programme guide and for programme delivery control with respect to recording devices.
But if Steve has managed to workaround the issue by preventing the Sony PVR from tuning in C24 and C27 then this implies that the data is not carried on the other, main multiplexes.
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K
Karl6:39 PM
Steve Donaldson: Which channels carry the EPG data has always been something I have wondered. One minor annoyance on the Sony (that I find anyway) is that the guide often has blanks or whole blocks of data missing once you get to a day or two ahead. Sometimes if you sit and watch and wait you can occasionally see missing blocks fill in but mostly not.
The Panasonic is always 100% correctly populated.
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S
Steve Donaldson6:54 PM
I am not sure whether this has already been picked up, but the Sony Pictures Television channels were sold to Narrative Capital in 2021:
Narrative Capital buys Sony UK channels
Narrative
The company on the Great Network website is said to be Narrative Entertainment UK Limited:
Contact Us - Great! Network | Great! Movies
The Head of Operations at Narrative Entertainment is Kelly Beavan:
Narrative Entertainment Launches Recently Acquired Channels - UK Broadcast News | 09/02/2022
Email addresses at Narrative Entertainment are firstinitiallastname {at} narrative.com, this according to the licensing information for Sony Movies Action on the Ofcom website:
Ofcom | TV Cable and Satellite
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J
js7:04 PM
Steve Donaldson: Yes, the same EPG data is carried on all multiplexes but devices ignore the data for services that are not present.
The data for BBC B is Huffman Coded on all multiplexes and the users of generic DVB-T2 capable boxes see it as gibberish, typically calling it Chinese.
In fact, all EPG data off BBC B is Huffman Coded.
Devices only capable of receiving DVB-T are never exposed to this data as the services on DVB-T2 multiplexes cannot be scanned in.
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S
Steve Donaldson9:02 PM
Thanks for the reply js.
On the AVForums thread, one of the complainants says he is on the North Hessary Tor transmitter in Cornwall which only broadcasts the PSBs. I don't believe there are any local multiplexes around that area, so this rather rules out anything other than something carried on the PSBs at least. The posting is here:
Sony 870 (and all Sony HXD and some Pioneers) DVD Recorders - No Freeview | Page 33 | AVForums
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C
Chris.SE10:42 PM
Steve Donaldson:
Hmm, interesting! But the North Hessary Tor transmitter is in Devon, it is indeed a Light transmitter with only the PSBs. But that chap doesn't know his geography and unless he's very close to Princetown (Devon), he won't be getting that relay transmitter as it is very low power with very limited coverage.
That said, if what caused his disruption (which sounds slightly different) is carried by the PSBs I'm not sure if it's an identical problem.
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Sunday, 2 July 2023
J
js12:28 AM
Steve Donaldson: Wildearth launched on freeview on Wed Jun 21 in the SDN multiplex.
I scanned the EPG at time Fri 23 Jun 06:04 and found that the CRIDs under the default_authority "wildearth.tv" did not begin with "/"
Instead, they all began with wildearth.tv/
I scanned again later that day at 15:28 and found that the string "wildearth.tv/" had been changed to "/" and thus the fault had been fixed.
The series of posts on this issue, in the thread you linked to, started Jun 22.
The first recent post from that user, dated Jun 23 2023, starts:
"I have been struggling with this exact same problem for the past few days"
Whatever the claimed transmitter might be, it is almost certain that user's boxes had scanned in the SDN multiplex.
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