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 18/11/2024 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?

R

Richard
12:14 AM

We have definitely lost strength in ellesmere port ch66 following the switch of the BBC MAX to Ch 50 on 10th April. I've seen the same on indoor, an amplified and an external amplified aerial - using various receivers. Strangely, some of the other MUX's are showing higher signal strengths.

This is not just of academic interest since I am now getting some break-up on BBC1 which was rock solid before. Some of the cr*p shopping which were unwatchable are now clear as crystal.

Has someone decided that the priority should be given to commercial channels over the Beeb ?

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Richard's 2 posts GB flag

P

Phil Parker
12:53 AM

Dave Lindsay: Live in Ainsworth, have 3 TVs. Retuned all after April 10th, changes. All BBC ,apart from HD, now showing poor strength. Each TV running on independent aerials.

Not a satisfactory outcome. Would like to know if/when it is likely to be resolved?

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Phil Parker's 2 posts GB flag

M

m roberts
1:04 AM

since the retune have lost all bbc stations on on upstairs tv with set top with .help sk2 area

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m roberts's 1 post GB flag

S

Sabre Rattling
3:20 AM

On this webpage
DIGITALBITRATE : Le debit des chaines en numerique - TNT UK LONDRES -

it says 544x576 for 'xxXpanded TV'
but when I've watched that channel I noticed that the looks a bit blurred unlike other eg 'The Jewellery Channel' that also say 544x576 (where any small text on screen normally looks crisp and sharp) and yet both channels are on the same DVBT SDN and timesharing.
a516digital: Freeview Service Update 16/01/2013:

Is it that have 'xxXpanded TV' at 544x576 but the has that channel at a lower resolution? (SK118AS)

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Sabre Rattling's 2 posts GB flag

T

Tony Jaques
7:27 AM

Hello JB38,
Thank you for the response.
I take your point about the PVR101, and indeed I did go through 6 before getting a reliable one with an early O/S!
But my main point is that on April the tenth someone changed something on PSB2. The PVR was OK before that.
I have tried a first time installation of course, but I have not tried tuning manually. Thank you for the suggestion.

Roland Debenham has a good idea though. I can receive Mol y Parc (spelling?) here in Stretford easily, and they might not have cocked that up. If Roland is in the Blackpool area he should be able to as well.

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Tony Jaques's 3 posts GB flag

I

I.Yvelyn
12:55 PM

I found this site and posts today - thought it was just me! I am in Bramhall south Manchester - had no issues til the 4g last Thurs, then like others I lost all BBC , since then i have done several installations/retunes.Although the BBC is back reception is poor - freezing, breaking up or or sound. You never know from 1 hour to the next whether you will be able to actually watch a programme, mostly it is so irritating I give up and turn off.I have also lost the radio channel for talk sport and the sky news channel which used to be 82 on - now it never appears. I am so glad to know it isn't just me! Haven't heard a word about this on the local news - is it going to be sorted out?Not everyone can afford or ..As I write this have been trying to listen to radio 4 on freeview - it's breaking up every few seconds so you hear about 1 word in 4 - useless.

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I.Yvelyn's 1 post GB flag

J

J Hynes
1:05 PM

At the top of this page I now read "This has no current reported problems".
Presumably, if the 'engineers' are happy with what they have done, it is irrelevant what others may be experiencing.

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J Hynes's 3 posts GB flag

E

eddie
2:59 PM

yes theres something badly wrong .im in ,bbc has vanished sky news has vanished and all bbc radio has gone as well

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eddie's 3 posts GB flag

D

Debbie K
3:13 PM

I've lost BBC, Sky News etc as well, on two different TVs. I've tried all the suggestions on here, nothing has worked. Wish they'd get this sorted out, getting v fed up with it now.

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Debbie K's 7 posts GB flag

C

cake
3:20 PM

UK are saying there's nothing wrong with the , ditto BBC. Got no BBC or Sky news on both LG TVs, Rochdale OL11 postcode. Can't someone just take this seriously and admit responsibility and start to put it right ?

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cake's 5 posts GB flag

Page 64

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