Full Freeview on the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter
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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 25/11/2024 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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Thursday, 25 April 2013
M
Martin Brown4:16 PM
jb38
Sorry for delay since your last posts to me of 7.25 and 8.00 PM on 13 April. I checked with the only neighbour with freeview in this sparse country area (retuned no probs); followed up the Humax help desk's further suggestions to carry out a Maintanence Mode software update and Reset (no change from 39 channels); and rang Digital UK for advice (nothing helpful). I then moved on as you advised to aerial engineers. The first would not even come out, suggesting I needed to retune (doh!). The second has just been out and after considerable testing and head-scratching we have a result!
As he explained it, the new (lower) frequency of the BBC channels was coming through more weakly on my aerial than the previous position, and he resolved the problem by making a minor tweak to the direction in which the aerial was pointing, which improved the signal strength a little, and adding a signal booster in my loft. This has now restored service to 113 channels.
I remain aggrieved that I have had to shell out £ 158 to correct a problem caused by the transmitter people beaming out a signal on a frequency that (for me at least) caused reception problems. (I asked Digital UK who I would sue if I wanted to, but predictably they could not tell me!)
But I am am very grateful to you for your helpful advice which eventually led me in the right direction.
Martin
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C
Celia7:11 PM
Live in BB1 area in flats. Lost BBC channels after 10th April. My tv in the living room is connected to the communal aerial which is not recieving BBC channels and other channels like Dave and ITV3/4 are weak. I have another TV in my bedroom that uses a freestanding aerial and reception on that is fine with all channels working. I used the freestanding aerial on my main tv instead of the communal one and it received all the channels.
So where does the problem lie? Is it my Tv that needs retuning ( which have done many times) or communal aerial needs readjusting?
I use humax PVR for my main viewing.
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M
Michael7:13 PM
Celia: You should perhaps read your comment again and see that you have basically answered you own question - if you the TV works with the indoor aerial then the communal aerial is the problem. Speak to neighbours to double check then to your property manager.
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C
Celia7:30 PM
Michael
Thanks for your comment. I did get in touch with management but they said no one else has complained. Most others have Sky have yet to find someone who uses communal like me. I contacted a local tv place they said no one else has complained so must be my tv. They said would send.someone round to look but am worried that I will be charged for it hence finding out first where the problem is.
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Celia: The communal aerial system is likely to be the issue. As Michael says, speak to whoever is responsible for the property.
Some are fitted with filters that only allow through the frequencies used by the desired transmitter. In the case of BBC standard definition and ITV4/4seven, they are on new frequencies.
ITV3 and Dave are on the same frequencies as they were before.
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Celia: If they are using satellite (Sky or Freesat) then it won't affect them.
This is an issue with the aerial system.
As Michael says, you have answered your own question.
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J
jb389:17 PM
Martin Brown: Many thanks for the comprehensive update on events and pleased to hear that you are now back to full operation, but though I am just curious as to whether or not the aerial engineer had made any reference to the group that your aerial belongs to? because "if" as I suspect its a C/D type, identified by a green blanking plug on the end of the horizontal boom that holds the elements, then changing it to a group E (brown end plug) would most likely have instantly lifted the BBC signal level.
The reason for saying this being, that prior to the recent retune Winter Hills six multiplex transmitters spanned from Ch54 to Ch62, this span being perfect for a C/D group aerials operating range of Ch48 to Ch68 as it allowed a good overlap margin at either end of the band, and in particular the low end which is more critical.
However that situation changed after the retune, as by Winter Hill now spanning from Ch49 to Ch59 this results in the BBC (Ch50) being picked up near the extreme end of the C/D aerials operating range, and something which is never good practice unless in a strong signal area, as the efficiency of any grouped aerial always tapers off from a few channels before the end of its operating range and why I was a bit amazed that the aerial engineer had not changed the aerial over to the group E aerial referred to, as its operating span of Ch35 to Ch68 would have offered an even better overlap margin than before the recent retune.
Still, its something to keep in mind should any problems crop up in the future, as signals being received over distances such as yours (33 miles) are usually always affected to a degree by seasonal changes to the terrain.
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J
Jamie Clarke9:58 PM
Manchester
Hi all, for the last few weeks I have lost BBC programmes on my in-built freeview. I have tried the resets and first time installations. I am in Failsworth M35, near the winter hill transmitter. I have tried to search through this website and others for the answer, and have read a lot about transmission groups etc and its all very confusing. From what I have read I gather its down to my ariel,not picking up the BBC group signals, would i need to reposition the ariel or replace it, or something different altogether. Thanks for your help.
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Jamie's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
Jamie Clarke10:00 PM
Manchester
I should have also mentioned that when I try to manual tune into CH49 for the BBC channels it says signal 0%. I got a list of manual search channels, but have no signal on any of them. Cheers.
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Jamie's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Jamie Clarke: If you have a Sky box, or some other 'box' that may output an analogue TV signal (the type we used before digital), ensure that it is not outputting on or near C50.
Try connecting your TV directly to your aerial and then perform a manual scan of C50. Once you've entered or selected C50, don't press the button to scan immediately, but instead wait and see if it gives an indication of signal strength and/or quality.
BBC standard definition services from Winter Hill are now on C50.
COM5 (Pick TV, Dave etc) are now on C49 - do you have these?
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