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Full Freeview on the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps53.625,-2.516 or 53°37'30"N 2°30'56"Wsa_postcodeBL6 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 25/03/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels Digital tick


Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name
_______

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.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C32 (562.0MHz)726mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
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)726mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
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),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C35- (585.8MHz)726mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
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)726mDTG-8100,000W
Channel icons
20 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H max
C31 (554.0MHz)726mDTG-8100,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 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, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H max
C37 (602.0MHz)726mDTG-8100,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others

LM
 H -20dB
C40 (626.0MHz)572mDTG-121,000W
Channel icons
from 1st October 2014: 7 That's Manchester,

LL
 H -17dB
C24 (498.0MHz)572mDTG-122,000W
Channel icons
from 30th June 2014: 7 Bay TV Liverpool,

LPR
 H -20dB
C56 (754.0MHz)572mDTG-121,000W
Channel icons
from 1st October 2014: 7 That's Lancashire,

GIM
 H -20dB
C57 (762.0MHz)572mDTG-21,000W
Channel icons
 Now 90s,  Spotlight TV,  Clubland TV,  Country Music Entertainment ,  Classic Hits MCR, 76 That's TV 2 MCR, 77 That's 60s MCR, 80 That's 80s, 86 That's 90s MCR, 88 TV Warehouse+1,

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 BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Winter Hill transmitter?

regional news image
BBC North West Tonight 3.1m homes 11.8%
from Salford M50 2QH, 22km southeast (140°)
to BBC North West region - 92 masts.
regional news image
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?

1956-80s1984-971997-981998-20092009-132013-182013-1720 Feb 2020
VHFC/D EC/D EC/D EC/D EC/D E TW TW T
C9ITVwaves
C12BBCtvwaves
C24_local
C29SDN
C31com7com7
C32BBCA
C34D3+4
C35BBCB
C37com8com8
C40LOCAL2
C48C5wavesC5waves
C49tv_off ArqAArqA
C50tv_off BBCABBCA
C54tv_off-BBCB-BBCB-BBCB
C55tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesArqBArqBArqBcom7tv_off
C56tv_off_local_local_localLPR
C57tv_offGIMGIMGIMGIM
C58tv_offSDNSDNSDN
C59tv_offITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesD3+4D3+4D3+4
C61ArqA
C62BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCA
C65C4wavesC4wavesC4waves

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

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Winter Hill transmitter area

May 1956-Jul 1968Granada Television†
May 1956-Jul 1968Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Feb 2004Granada Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014ITV plc
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV Daybreak•
• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only.

Comments
Saturday, 4 June 2011
L
Lee
3:59 PM

Hi, Folks,

I live in Leyland and am in direct line of sight of Winter Hill, I have a Panasonic G20 flatscreen TV with buit in Freeview & Freesat.

I don't use the latter, I receive every freeview channel apart from this Movies For Men, channel 201.

I recieve all channels through a Technika TT-02 powered indoor aerial, I have no complaints with any of the channels I recieve, all HD & SD content is good, no break up or anything like, excellent signal strength etc.

But whenever I enter 201 in to the panasonic is says "Invalid Channel", doesn't even find it when I do a scan, usually the TV will display a signal saying new channels found.

So I tried tuning in channel 201 on the downstairs freeview box which is lined up to the outside ariel, that does find it and says will take 3mins to tune in, but it never does, just goes around in circles.

Any ideas?

link to this comment
Lee's 1 post GB flag
Sunday, 5 June 2011
M
MickDawn
4:44 AM

Chris Rimmer:
Hi. My 40 month old Grundig GULENAR26HDIP tv has the problems you describe. I've been in touch with Grundig (actually now owned by Harvard International, tel 0871 2301777). The service bloke there told be the problem is due to different transmission modes being used (2k, 5k & 8k?) & that the tv cannot cope with it. This problem only started sometime in April & that Grundig (Harvard are working with Beko (who actually made the tv) to engineer a fix (possibly by OAD, possibly hardware). He did say to write to Harvard Internationals engineering department describing the problem & said they would get back to me. Ive read a few posts on other forums (http://www.avforums.com/forums/lcd-led-lcd-tvs/1456113-grundig-lenaro-26-lcd-tv-freezes.html &
I was watching ch5 yesterday about 3pm when I pressed another...
)about other people who are having the same problem. Interesting that as more regions change to only digital the problem will affect more people (unless a fix is found).
Mick

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MickDawn's 5 posts FR flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:50 PM

MickDawn: Yes, this is well known, see TVs and boxes that do not support the 8k-mode | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice - you now need to use a Freeview set-top box.

link to this comment
Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

5:39 PM

Lee: It's a bit hard to say without a full postcode.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Stuart O.
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

10:16 PM
Wrexham

May: You don't say if you have a problem with your TV reception, despite Mike Dimmick's reply presuming you do have.

Are you just wanting to tell the world your Post Code and the location of you aerial?
Considering that's your first post to UK Free TV, I don't understand what you are getting at or what help you require by giving out that information.
Please explain. Thanks.

link to this comment
Stuart O.'s 156 posts GB flag
Stuart's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
Stuart O.
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

9:41 PM
Wrexham

I've mentioned before that I live in a flat and the communal roof aerial is pointing to Winter Hill. In my loft, I have a tv set top aerial connected to an amplifier that receives excellent signals from The Wrekin, Sutton Coldfield and Lichfield.

For some strange reason, I have never been able to get a decent picture from having an outdoor aerial fitted in the loft yet I can get great pictures from a set-top aerial!
Why is this?

I have tried in turn 10, 32 and 48 element aerials. Using an amplifier makes the picture worse. I am using good quality satellite grade coax cable so why is such a little indoor aerial capable of giving better results than an outdoor aerial?
It's got me baffled!

I wanted to use an outdoor aerial in the loft instead of the set-top type because that aerial is mounted on top of some boxes to give it more height and improved reception which doesn't look and feel all that great or safe and an outdoor type would look better and thought it would further improve reception but this has not been the case.

Would anyone be able to tell me why I am experiencing such unexpected results?

Hope to have an answer soon.
Thanks,
Stuart.

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Stuart O.'s 156 posts GB flag
Stuart's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
S
steven wallace
9:04 AM

hi , im having a problem with my fathers hd freeview box , he has a new digital aeriel with a clear view of winter hill transmitter. he keeps getting picture break up and losing the bbc channels , when i retune the channels its ok for 2-3 days and then the breakup starts . we are retuning the box every 3 days on average.

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steven wallace's 2 posts GB flag
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:17 PM

Stuart O.: If a set-top aerial works but an outdoor aerial doesn't, it's most likely to be down to getting too much signal from the outdoor type.

Go for a fairly small aerial, I'd try a 25 or even 18-element log periodic, and fit an attenuator to reduce the signal levels. Obviously don't use the amplifier!

Amplifiers - including the automatic gain control and the mixer in the receiver - can only handle so much signal before distorting. This distortion essentially creates frequency-shifted copies of the signal (intermodulation products) which interfere with the original signals. It's the overall signal level, the level from each multiplex added together, from all transmitters received, that is important. (Filtering is usually done after mixing, to put the selected channel on a specific intermediate frequency, as it's easy to tune the mixer but hard to tune the filter.)

The individual carriers making up one multiplex are 'orthogonal', deliberately spaced so this problem doesn't happen within one multiplex. Unfortunately the multiplexes are not orthogonal to one another!

The 'outdoor' aerial should still have better directional properties than the set-top, so you're still likely to get better results overall.

Theoretical signal levels can be calculated with Field Strength Calculator . For an aerial with 7 dB of gain, I get 70.4 dBuV of output from Winter Hill (100kW on C61 at a distance of 71.6km), which is more than the CAI's recommended level of 65 dBuV. The Wrekin (20kW on C23, 55.8km away) gives 69.7 dBuV. You lose some signal through tiles and rafters, of course.

Sutton Coldfield is 97.3km away but you do have line of sight, power levels are currently low at 8kW on C41 giving a theoretical 58.6 dBuV - that's still plenty for the box to decode. Post-switchover level will be 200kW on C43, giving 72.4 dBuV.

link to this comment
Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:18 PM

steven wallace: Postcode?

A 'new digital aerial' is often over-specified for the job, leading to excessive signal levels.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
Thursday, 16 June 2011
S
steven wallace
8:21 AM
Preston

mike dimmick.
postcode is PR2 6JR

link to this comment
steven wallace's 2 posts GB flag
steven's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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Your comment please
Please post a question, answer or commentIf you have Freeview reception problems before posting a question your must first do this Freeview reset procedure then see: Freeview reception has changed, Single frequency interference, and Freeview intermittent interference.

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If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

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