Full Freeview on the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter
 | 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.
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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Saturday, 26 August 2023
C
Chris.SE2:35 PM
js:
They are still petals as before, but just on their own UHF channels now, presumably there may have been some locations where more than one petal could be received and when all on the same channel this led to problems!
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Sunday, 27 August 2023
J
John Dixon2:22 PM
London
I have the same problem with my Sony HXD890 as many others. The EPG turns off after a few seconds. This started about a week ago.
Am hoping for a further software update but so far nothing.
London N2 9DL
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John's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 29 August 2023
K
Karl7:46 PM
John Dixon: I have been informed from both Sony and Freeview that the problem has been resolved. You may need to do a factory reset or alternatively if you haven't changed anything as a workaround it may now be OK with no further action on your part.
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Saturday, 7 October 2023
J
Jay6:59 PM
When will everything be back to normal in the West Lancs Area? Many channels are still pixelated at 7pm, Saturday 7th October.
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Monday, 9 October 2023
C
Chris.SE12:33 AM
Jay:
Apart from the Planned Engineering, it could well be current weather conditions affecting you, they have been causing Tropospheric Ducting affecting much of the south coast and southern parts of the country on Saturday and now extending into the Midlands and North of the country through Sunday including East Anglia. This causes interfering signals from distant transmitters in Europe or the UK to affect reception of your wanted signals. This can periodically last, seconds, minutes and sometimes much longer - Do NOT Retune.
There is nothing you can do about this apart from wait for conditions to change, or use online streaming if available.
IF you did retune, you be best manually retuning the UHF channels for your transmitter.
The BBC have issued warnings -
High pressure weather conditions impacting TV & Radio services - 6th October | Help receiving TV and radio
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Friday, 13 October 2023
M
mr t carroll3:38 PM
a bit confused . help have had a freeview message today the 13thoct 23,watching skyarts on my tv which is in my selection no8.. it says its moving from 11 to 36?? so how does that affect me if at all ?? i call channel numbers by their Frequencey Number which on yur table is winter hill 31. so
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C
Chris.SE4:09 PM
mr t carroll:
I think you are simply confusing the TV programme channel number LCN - logical channel number (the one that's in the EPG - Electronic Programme Guide) with the UHF Channel number for the multiplex that carries the TV programme channel.
You of course may have your own "favourites list" which numbers the LCNs as you want in your own custom list.
"Sky Arts" LCN 11 and Sky's "Pick" LCN 36 are both carried on the ArqA/COM5 multiplex which is on UHF channel C31 at Winter Hill.
On the 18th October, Sky, the broadcaster, as swapping the TV programme channels around in the official EPG so that Sky Arts will be on LCN 36. They are then renaming "Pick" as "Sky Mix" which will be LCN 11.
Your set MAY pick up those swaps automatically, but otherwise you may have to retune the mux UHF C31 to pick up the change.
You may also have to edit your "favourites" list if you have one - or of course you may have just renumbered LCN 11 as LCN 8, the latter not being used at Winter Hill, but is used by some transmitters elsewhere. So after the change, you'd have to renumber LCN 36 as LCN 8 if you still want pick at 8.
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C
Chris.SE4:48 PM
mr t carroll:
Just for your information I meant to include this in my previous post -
See Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview for which TV Programme channels are carried on which multiplex as the lists on this page aren't fully up-to-date as the site owner hasn't had time to do all the changes that took place with the 700MHz clearance and some of the recent listing changes.
Also above, the UHF channel numbers for all the Local multiplexes haven't been updated. I don't know which you may get, it depends on the area/postcode you are in.
The correct ones are -
Local Manchester on C24, Manchester GI on C27.
Liverpool Local mux on C21, Preston Local mux on C40.
If you hover over the C channel numbers, it should give you the frequency if you need it.
What you can receive and how well will depend on location, a full postcode is needed to look at predictions.
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Tuesday, 11 June 2024
B
Barrie Cliffe 7:10 AM
Hi, another one with issues here.
I live in High Lane in Stockport and this morning on
Tuesday I have done a new channel scan with loosing
channels, I have lost a the complete mux PSB2 D3+4.
Is anyone else having thus issue? Also 101 and 102 have moved to 1 and 2.
Thanks
Barrie
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S
StevensOnln110:29 AM
Barrie Cliffe : The post above yours warns of engineering work currently affecting the Winter Hill transmitter, which may be operating at reduced power for periods of time whilst the work is taking place. Unfortunately they don't give any details of what the works are or how long they are due to last.
The BBC have implemented LCN switching, which moves the BBC HD channels to the number of the corresponding SD channel on compatible TVs. The idea is that by moving the HD channels to lower numbers more people will find them without having to go to the HD section of the EPG.
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