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

Brian Butterworth first published this on 1st May 2004 at 08:20 - UK Free TV

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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 04/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels

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

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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 66 TBN UK,
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-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?

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	ITV_waves
C12	BBCtv_waves
C24								_local
C29								SDN
C31							com7	com7
C32								BBCA
C34								D3+4
C35								BBCB
C37							com8	com8
C40								LOCAL2
C48			C5_waves	C5_waves
C49_{tv_off}						ArqA	ArqA
C50_{tv_off}						BBCA	BBCA
C54_{tv_off}					-BBCB	-BBCB	-BBCB
C55_{tv_off}		BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	ArqB	ArqB	ArqB	com7_{tv_off}
C56_{tv_off}					_local	_local	_local	LPR
C57_{tv_off}					GIM	GIM	GIM	GIM
C58_{tv_off}					SDN	SDN	SDN
C59_{tv_off}		ITV_waves	ITV_waves	ITV_waves	D3+4	D3+4	D3+4
C61					ArqA
C62		BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBCA
C65		C4_waves	C4_waves	C4_waves

_{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 Granada

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

May 1956-Jul 1968	Granada Television†
May 1956-Jul 1968	Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Feb 2004	Granada Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014	ITV plc

Feb 1983-Dec 1992	TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010	GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014	ITV Daybreak•

• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

M

Mike C

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

3:32 PM
Altrincham

just put on all elecrical appliances likely to be used - dishwasher, clothes drier & washing machine as well as mobile phones near unit - none of them affect the HD in daytime - but today of HDs down to 72% - all rest of channels at ususal @90%

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Mike C's 64 posts GB flag

Mike's: M's Freeview map M's terrain plot M's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage

J

Julie
8:27 PM
Runcorn

My Tv is pixelating and loud clicking noises for well over a week ,I'm on the but it says no problems.My is built into a flat screen tv .My mums tv in the next room is fine, hers is old type tv with a box.I have tried resetting and end up getting and ITV1 wales and have to reset again to get correct stations.Please!

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Julie's 8 posts GB flag

Julie's: J's Freeview map J's terrain plot J's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Briantist

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

8:48 PM

Julie: Can you please see the Freeview intermittent interference | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice page for with that?

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag

J

Julie
9:02 PM
Runcorn

Thanks for that advice, I do have anti surge plug , so would one with a filter? Theres no from mobile phones or anything electrical as had this tv for 4 years and no problems until now .

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Julie's 8 posts GB flag

Julie's: J's Freeview map J's terrain plot J's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage

M

Mike C

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

9:25 AM
Altrincham

tracked down what is happening with my HD sound problem - but solving it is another thing.
When I switch from my Technomate 6902 while watching a channel to my Panasonic LCD tv with built in Freeview - then switch back to Technomate - HD sound is no longer there on the Technomate - it is ok on all the other Freeview . It is happening any time of day - not just a night time occurrence. on HD is definitely dropping at night though

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Mike C's 64 posts GB flag

Mike's: M's Freeview map M's terrain plot M's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage

C

Corin

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

3:40 PM

Two questions --

What is the purpose of the work at for the week beginning March 4th, 2012?

Will this not affect all off air relays of Winter Hill?

(Since , , and are not relays, these will not be affected.).

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Corin's 91 posts LU flag

B

Brian Springthorpe
4:24 PM

My old Mum lives in Rhos on Sea (LL28).

Strangely she can pick up a bit off Llandonna and also a lot off the the in the other direction. I am not sure if it is the Winterhill - please confirm.

So with her , she gets the best of both worlds with and without having to have (which is picks up all regions).

Only thing is she doesn't seem to have all the . Dave is the main one I've noticed.

Is there anyone else in this area that experiences the same?

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Brian Springthorpe's 6 posts GB flag

Dave Lindsay

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

5:09 PM

Brian Springthorpe: Look at the coverage map above. It should be receivable along ' north coast and the east of Anglesey.

See the full list of TV (excludes radio) after :

Freeview multiplexes | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice

This shows the six groups or "multiplexes" (or "muxes" for short) as they're known. Three of them are Public Service Broadcaster (PSB) muxes, these being BBC A, D3&4 and BBC B. The other three are Commercial (COM) muxes, which are SDN, Arq A and Arq B.

For each COM mux, see if the first programme channel exists in order to see if that mux exists. So look for ITV3, Pick TV and Yesterday, each of which is part of SDN, Arq A and Arq B, respectively.

Try manually adding each one. As your mother seems to have good of Winter Hill (albeit off the back of the ), then that might be worth trying.

For manual tuning, are:

ITV3 Llandona= / Winter Hill=
Pick TV Llandona= / Winter Hill=
Yesterday= / Winter Hill=

For those that already exist, it might be worth looking to see what UHF channel they are coming in on so as to work out what they are coming from. This information is usually given on the signal strength screen.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag

M

Mark Fletcher

_{sentiment_satisfied}Gold

12:37 AM
Barnsley

Corin.Sunday 4 March 2012,3.40pm.
Not quite., and are not main transmitters but they are major relays all dependent upon its main .If Winter Hill was totally off the air Lancaster,Saddleworth and Storeton major relays will all be off the air as such and will all be affected as such too !

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Mark Fletcher's 673 posts GB flag

Mark's: M's Freeview map M's terrain plot M's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Josh

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

8:55 AM

@: You might want to update the listings on this page as M is no more: Channel M closure sounds warning for local TV - Media News - Digital Spy

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Josh's 97 posts GB flag

Page 29

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.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

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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