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 18/11/2024 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, 13 April 2013
David Rogers: What are on the correct logical channel numbers (1, 2, 7, 9 etc)?
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Tom Linson2:59 PM
Who do I sue ? Work on the Transmitter has resulted in my suffering and wasting time with this nonsense of re-tuning. I did not cause it.
Tom
Chester
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jb383:37 PM
martin brown: Thanks for the update, although I did say - on each these of these five "muxes" - shortly after having mentioned the plus points of using a Humax box for tests, the programmes in brackets at the side of the mux channels simply given to represent an EPG programme number used by each of the individual mux, and which would have saved you using the manual tune test if you had selected the programme then checked the levels (called "condition" on most Humax's) although obviously this short cut would not be applicable unless all muxes had previously been stored.
However levels measured only using the 9300 is perfectly suffice for accuracy, as indeed are levels measured on any Humax by them being more in line with the reality of the situation compared to indications taken from most other devices, and even although the 9300 cannot indicate HD quality levels (albeit that it does strength) this is neither here nor there.
As far as your signal readings are concerned, these are roughly in line with what was expected when taking the problem you referred to into account, and as you will most probably have gathered the problem encountered unfortunately being of a nature where about the only action that could be taken at the receiving end in an attempt to improve reception being to carry out some experiments with an alternative aerial position, such moving the aerial slightly to the left or right, higher or lower, or a combination of both, because other than trying that I don't see any chances of the signal improving except by that caused by seasonal changes.
The reason for saying this being, I suspect that the problem is mainly being caused by the propagational differences of the new frequency, this always occurring to a certain degree but with it always having a greater effect on reception for viewers who might reside in an area where the signal path from the transmitter is being partially obstructed at some point along the way, which indeed I noticed applies with a number of people who made complaints, knowledge of their post code allowing the terrain indicator to be accessed, the possibility of this being applicable in your case being unknown.
That said though, there is also the possibility that the problem is being partially caused by a very slight phase matching deficiency between the radiating panels used on the mast that sweeps across your area and which is now being revealed by the frequency change, and if anything like that did apply a transmitter engineer would be totally unaware of this as the loading indications on the TX would appear as being within limits.
By the way, the panels referred to are arranged in a circular fashion to cover all points of the compass.
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David Rogers3:51 PM
Dave Lindsay: It says "channel unavailable" in every case using the old station numbers on the remote.
I've just checked again, and the signal strength and quality is still very poor on all BBC channels, with frequent degradation of both sound and picture.
Still far from being a satisfactory situation.
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Phyllis4:18 PM
Still cant get BBC and some other channels have done more 15 retunes. can this problem at winter hill not be solved??
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Brian Ingersent: The practical outcome of your two aerial set-up is that when you tune anywhere from 21 to 50, your Windermere aerial is used, and anything from 52 to 69, your Winter Hill aerial is used. This assumes that the diplexer which combines the feeds "splits" at C51, which often they do.
One possibility is that you keep the two separate. Perhaps use Winter Hill as the "main" transmitter, feeding it into your PVR and TV. And feed Windermere into a separate set-top box, for use when there is regional programming being transmitted that you wish to view.
Of course, this solution means that if you distribute TV signals to your rooms that you will only have Windermere available in one (or else install a second distribution system with secondary boxes for each TV!).
The diplexer acts as a filter for the feed from each aerial. It ensures that 51 to 69 aren't allowed through from the Windermere aerial and that 21 to 51 aren't allowed through from the Winter Hill aerial.
I write as someone who isn't an aerial professional. You may find that replacing the diplexer with an unfiltered splitter will work, or you may find that it results in some or all unuseable signals due to it not being filtered.
If not then it will be tricky. At this point I will pause to allow you to cool off having learned that the powers that be change direction every five minutes which has a knock-on effect on you....
Your choices for reception of Border may be Windermere (44, 47 and 41) or Kendal (60, 53 and 57). Both these are Public Service (PSB) only stations, and so don't carry the Commercial (COM) channels.
In addition to Winter Hill, reception from Lancaster may be possible. Google Streetview shows the house with the balcony has a Lancaster aerial. The caution must be that the COM channels from Lancaster are on lower power than its PSBs, so some fringe viewers will be PSB-only, or else have intermittant COMs.
As a relay of Winter Hill, Lancaster carries North West/Granada. Its PSBs are 27, 24 and 21 and its COMs are 25, 28 and 22. They would combine with Windermere or Kendal, but you wouldn't be able to receive channels in the range 31 to 37 from Winter Hill (if they come on air - see the P.S.).
Your C51 diplexer could be used to combine Lancaster and Kendal. For Lancaster and Windermere you would need a C38 diplexer.
I can hear you saying "bring back analogue". The four channels from every transmitter didn't have any of this.
P.S. As part of switchover, channels 31 to 37 were cleared. I'm not sure how set in stone what will be happening to them yet, but there is a suggestion that the biggest "main" transmitters may utilise these channels for HD services: Ten more HD channels on two new Freeview HD multiplexes on air from 2014-18 | Freeview news | ukfree.tv - 10 years of independent, free digital TV advice
At your location the only possible such transmitter appears to be Winter Hill. Your current set-up would preclude reception of these channels, "if" they were to come to fruition.
P.P.S. "If" the powers that be decide to clear more of the upper part of the TV band (possibly about 50 to 60) then things could change again.
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David Rogers5:36 PM
I give up! The BBC channels have now disappeared completely again and ITV1 (but unwatchable) has replaced BBC1 at 800 on my remote.
ITV1 is still perfectly watchable at 3 on the remote, as it always has been.
If there is any logic to any of this, it's beyond me...
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martin brown5:39 PM
jb38: Many thanks for your analysis of my problem. Unfortunately I'm not familiar enough with the technological jargon to say I understand it fully, but.... I think you are advising me that my next step should be to get an aerial engineer to come and do some adjustments to try to improve reception. If, however, there is a phase matching deficiency (whatever that means, is that an insuperable problem that an aerial engineer would not be able to solve?
If you feel an aerial man should indeed be my next step, I'll do this, though I do find it odd that reception from Winter Hill was good enough to get BBC on 9 April but not on 11th!
Many thanks again for your advice
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Elisabeth Voges5:44 PM
I am writing on behalf of my Mother who has today had to pay a television engineer the sum of £57:60 to have her set retuned to receive BBC1, BBC2, BBC3 and BBC4 following the retune of the 10th of April 2013. She was able to receive all other channels apart from the BBC. Both I and my husband tried to retune these channels, but to no avail. We are both technically competent and have been able, historically, to retune our own set with no problems. She is a pensioner on a limited income and I feel very strongly that she should not have to pay for this retune, through no fault of her own. I would be obliged if you could advise me as to the most appropriate course of action.
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jb385:50 PM
martin brown: A slight alteration to that said as on checking back I see that you initially did indicate your location, which on checking the signal path to same indicates it being obstructed at approximately 1.5 miles away from you.
The other aspect of the indicator being that it only indicates natural ground obstructions and not anything other than that, such as trees or man made obstacles and which might also be playing a role.
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