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

first published this on - UK Free TV
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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
Friday, 12 April 2013
M
martin brown
6:51 PM

jb38: Many thanks for trying to help me (your message at 1.07 pm today). You advised as follows:
"Make a note of the strength & quality (particularly the latter) on each of these five muxes, or six if you have an HD box, then give an update on results.

Ch50 (BBC) - Ch59 (ITV1) - Ch54 (HD) - Ch58 (ITV3 etc) - Ch49 (Pick TV etc) - Ch55 (Film 4 etc))"

Can I start by saying that I have two Humax machines: one is a Youview HD machine model DTR-T1000; the other is a non-HD PVR 9300T. The HD machine does not have a facility for manual retunes or for setting the channel number for which a signal check is required. I must first select the channel and then go into settings mode to perform a signal check for that channel, then exit, reselect a channel and repeat the process. Only two of the TV channels you mention are available this way, but they differ from the multiplex descriptions you give. Channel 50 is the "Marketplace" channel, and its signal reads 42% strength and 100% quality; and channel 49 is the "Jewellery Channel" with identical signal strength 42% and quality 100%. The other four channels, when selected, show a message "No channel".

On the other machine, however, there is a facility in the installation settings for taking signal readings and selecting the channel for which a reading is required. The readings were as follows:
Ch 50: Strength 63%, Quality 0%
Ch 59: S 71%, Q 100%
Ch 54: S 64%, Q 0% (NB this Humax is not an HD one)
Ch 58: S 72%, Q 100%
Ch 49: S 65%, Q flips erratically and quickly between 0%, 10% and 50%
Ch 55: S 68%, Q flips erratically and quickly between 0%, 10% and 50%

NB on the non-HD machine giving these full readings, channels 49 and 50, when viewed as TV, are jewellery and Marketplace just like the HD model.

Hope these results may give you a better idea of what might be wrong

Incidentally, I found this website through a search engine and it seemed to be the only place where problems with this 10 April retune are mentioned. I find it strange that so many people seem to have the same problem, and yet box manufacturers like Humax and the BBC's own website carry no information about the issue.

Thanks again for offering to help.

Martin

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martin brown's 5 posts GB flag
S
Steve B
7:39 PM

I've also lost PSB1 and COM5 channels.
After the channels were reassigned my tv retained the previous details but obviously they showed as "no signal".
My first automatic scan removed them but did not add the new ones.
I've now tried retuning several times, both automatic and manual. Also tried disconnecting the aerial and wiping the current channels but my tv retained them. Against my better judgement (as all my settings were lost) I did a factory reset and scanned again. All channels except PSB1 and COM5 were picked up.
I've given up hope at this stage.
For reference I've a Sony KDL-40CX523 and live in a apartment complex in M4

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Steve B's 2 posts GB flag
C
Charlie Maunsell
7:43 PM

Ch 50: Strength 0%, Quality 0%

Liverpool city centre

no BBC channels 3 days later!!

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Charlie Maunsell's 1 post GB flag
M
Michael
sentiment_satisfiedGold

7:46 PM

Steve B and Charlie Maunsell: Communal aerial? Checked with neighbours?

link to this comment
Michael's 358 posts GB flag
J
John H
7:54 PM

Michael - is there a known issue with communal aerials? At least two people in our block cannot get BBC channels after a 'Winter Hill' retune.

link to this comment
John H's 2 posts GB flag
L
L Wilson
7:56 PM

Still no BBC channels on Youview box. Anyone got any fix for this yet?

link to this comment
L Wilson's 1 post GB flag
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

8:24 PM

Charlie Maunsell: What is the signal on C49 reading. If not a communal aerial, is the aerial coupled to a second aerial? Also check for other equipment, such as VCR or Sky box with thr RF modulator set to C50. Try repositioning HDMI cables and aerial fly leads in relation to each other, and the receiver, in case there is any interaction between them.

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KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
M
Michael
sentiment_satisfiedGold

8:45 PM

John H: Yes, some communal aerial will only distribute certain channels numbers out to each flat, so it will need to be adjusted and it's why others are having issues as well. You'll need to speak to your landlord/property manager.

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Michael's 358 posts GB flag
M
Mazbar
sentiment_satisfiedGold

9:00 PM

One for everyone out there I went to a house today and he had two bang and olufsen dvb tv's no way to tune them in does anybody know how to tune in these tv's

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Mazbar's 384 posts GB flag
J
Jean
10:34 PM

I live in Burnley and unable to get any BBC channels at my wits end I have kept re-tuning Spoken to Digital people who passed me to Humax and they were completely baffled why I couldn`t get the channels. Feel better that it is just not me that can1t get the channels We live in a communal block of flats and others do have BBC

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Jean's 1 post GB flag
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Your comment please
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