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 20/01/2025 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels 
_______
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 TV 3, | |||||
| PSB3 BBCB | H max | C35- (585.8MHz) | 726m | DTG- | 100,000W |
 46 5SELECT, 57 U&Eden, 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, 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, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 61 GREAT! mystery, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTR, 74 U&DaveJaVu, 81 Blaze +1, 83 That's TV , 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 208 POP MAX, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 Rok Sky +1, plus 28 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 Drama 1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 76 That's Dance, 233 Sky News, plus 13 others | |||||
| COM6 ArqB | H max | C37 (602.0MHz) | 726m | DTG-8 | 100,000W |
 Al Jazeera Eng, 12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! player, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's Melody, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 207 Tiny Pop, 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 Melody MCR, 78 That's Fabulous, 79 That's Dance MCR, 80 That's TV (UK) MCR, 86 That's TV 2 MCR, 88 TV Warehouse, | |||||
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 TV region BBC North West GranadaWhich companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Winter Hill transmitter area
|
|
Tuesday, 11 June 2024
B
Barrie Cliffe 9:32 PM
Hi, thanks for all your posts. I didn't know they were working on Winterhill and did a channel scan because of blank channels.
I did a scan on the mux which I received no signal, so I take it this is what they are working on.
Glad I found this site as I will be visiting often. Didn't know about the BBC channels which makes sense to free up the bandwidth. I have 80+ year old in-laws which who will be grateful for the information on the channel moves.
Thanks again everyone who replied. I will keep an eye on that mux.
| link to this comment |
Friday, 28 June 2024
J
js3:20 PM
Though no expert in this area, it seems to me that apart from the slashless aspect, there seems to be a lack of understanding by whoever created that EIT data.
By analogy with the following example BBC EIT data, there should be firstly a Series CRID and then different Item CRIDs for each item in the series.
From the same EIT dump:
North West series crids 2024 06 28 030220
TOT.UTC_time = Fri 28 Jun 03:02
service_name = "BBC ONE W Mid"
onid.tsid.sid = 233A.1045.1045
default_authority = fp.bbc.co.uk
{
programme = "Weather for the Week Ahead"
{
crid = /b-4N160, type = 32, series
date, duration, eventID, itemCRID
Fri 28 Jun 00:25, 00:05, 4980, /m/13XOM
Sat 29 Jun 00:55, 00:05, 49B5, /m/13XPU
Sun 30 Jun 02:00, 00:05, 49D3, /m/1436C
Sun 30 Jun 12:10, 00:05, 49DC, /m/1436Q
Mon 01 Jul 03:00, 00:05, 49EF, /m/14374
Tue 02 Jul 02:40, 00:05, 4A04, /m/142RH
Wed 03 Jul 02:05, 00:05, 4A18, /m/142S2
Wed 03 Jul 23:40, 00:05, 4A3A, /m/142VU
}
programme = "Breakfast"
{
crid = /b-3RHJ6, type = 32, series
date, duration, eventID, itemCRID
Fri 28 Jun 05:00, 03:30, 499B, /m/13XPB
Sat 29 Jun 05:00, 04:00, 49BB, /m/1435W
Sun 30 Jun 05:00, 03:00, 49D5, /m/1436G
Mon 01 Jul 05:00, 03:30, 49F1, /m/142R0
Tue 02 Jul 05:00, 03:30, 4A06, /m/142RL
Wed 03 Jul 05:00, 03:30, 4A29, /m/142VD
Thu 04 Jul 05:00, 03:30, 4A1A, /m/142VY
}
...
- just saying
| link to this comment |
Sunday, 30 June 2024
J
js5:47 PM
According to this post
https://www.avforums.com/…2373
Winter Hill is not the only transmitter affected.
Searching for the generic term "uklocal.tv", which is the offending string in the offending CRIDs, brought up:
Local TV Limited - Wikipedia
Presumably those are affected too.
| link to this comment |
Tuesday, 2 July 2024
J
js7:13 PM
signs of hope:
Sony 870 (and all Sony HXD and some Pioneers) DVD Recorders - No Freeview | Page 44 | AVForums
the cause:
https://ibb.co/WHSsVGF
| link to this comment |
Wednesday, 3 July 2024
K
Karl10:58 AM
js: many thanks for your work on the Freeview/Sony/EPG issue. Much appreciated. It is really frustrating that each time this happens it is like starting from zero in explaining things. I'm hoping a fix will be issued.
Last year Freeview contacted me to say the issue was somewhat of a 'grey area' but having identified the problem it should not occur again (indeed! I wish) and that if it did they would know where the issue was.
So we are all hoping for a fix ASAP.
| link to this comment |
Thursday, 4 July 2024
C
Chris.SE1:44 AM
Karl:
Have Freeview actually realised (which I doubt, they're a bit thick most times) or been made aware that the issue has re-occurred? And thanks JS.
| link to this comment |
K
Karl5:49 AM
Chris.SE: The BBC reply says that they have contacted Freeview.
"Our engineers have discussed it with the Freeview team and have been informed that they are investigating this. If you haven't already we would recommend contacting Freeview directly. This will ensure they understand the extent of the problem and you will be able to obtain updates from them directly"
I have also contacted Freeview a few days ago (that was my first initial reaction) and I used Direct Messages on X for that. That was like starting from zero and is so annoying because all this was thrashed out last year.
Freeview contacted me last August saying:
"We as Freeview Advice agents are now aware of this issue and can offer advice. It was a grey area when you reported this in June. Hopefully it can be worked on to avoid this issue for future channel updates"
Have you followed this on AVForums?
Sony 870 (and all Sony HXD and some Pioneers) DVD Recorders - No Freeview | Page 44 | AVForums
| link to this comment |
J
js6:54 AM
Karl: These "slashless CRIDs" are actually valid in this case.
default_authority = madeinliverpool.tv
CRID authority = uklocal.tv
From ETSI TS 102 323
Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Carriage and signalling of TV-Anytime information in DVB transport streams
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
6.3.2 Scope of a default authority definition
A default authority is defined by the presence of a default authority descriptor. The purpose of the default authority is to allow a CRID reference within the scope of such a definition to leave out the protocol and authority parts of a CRID URI, if the CRID authority part of that CRID reference is the same as the defined default authority.
The scope of a particular value of default authority is defined by the location of the default authority descriptor. A value of default authority defined in a scope overrides any value of default authority already defined for a wider, enclosing scope. See table 15 for definitions of the permitted locations of the default authority descriptor and which scope override which others.
| link to this comment |
J
js1:42 PM
I thought it might be worth trying to contact the creators of this problematic EIT data.
Local TV Limited - Wikipedia
An attempt to visit uklocal.tv gave this message:
Your connection is not secure
The owner of uklocal.tv has configured their website improperly. To protect your information from being stolen, Tor Browser has not connected to this website.
uklocal.tv uses an invalid security certificate. The certificate expired on 01 May 2024 11:00. The current time is 04 July 2024 10:44.
There is an option to "Add exception..." which I did.
The page which then came up merely said:
"We are updating our website.
Please bear with us while we work our magic"
- nothing there then.
What they have done overrides the existing default_authority "madeinliverpool.tv" with "uklocal.tv"
There are two ways to fix these CRID strings so they are harmless.
"uklocal.tv" is removed from the start of the CRID string enabling the existing default_authority "madeinliverpool.tv" to be used.
"uklocal.tv" is removed from the start of the CRID string and the default_authority is changed to "uklocal.tv"
In each case the CRID string then starts with "/"
| link to this comment |
K
Karl5:40 PM
js: as before, many thanks for your investigations into this. I'll be honest, the make up of the data is outside my field of expertise but I get the gist of all you are saying.
And before I forget... it seems to have just been fixed this afternoon. Mine is working OK and reports from others say the same.
What I don't know (and it would be useful/informative to know) is whether the problem could be classed as an invalid change that violate the DVB-T standard or... is the Sony product range affected non compliant in some way to what should be a valid make up of the data or... is it just a grey area that nobody anticipated issues with.
| link to this comment |
Select more comments
Your comment please