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 11/11/2024 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?

J

jb38

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

11:24 PM

John Johnston: As your query involves checking coverage areas as well mux numbers used by the transmitter, then in the interests of accuracy a post code or one from nearby e.g: a shop/post office etc is really required.

It would also be of assistance if you could supply the model number of your TV.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag

J

J palliser
11:40 PM
Preston

jb38: post code PR2 9AW
Ch59 is showing weak / poor
All other Ch are ok.
Using a 2year old Sony but I know that it is not the issue plus this problem only started a s few weeks ago.

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J palliser's 6 posts GB flag

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

J

jb38

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

12:34 AM

J palliser: The TV does not really come into the equation, because as you have mentioned your is via the Humax box and my advice was with reference to this device.

The reason for me requesting that you carry out the Ch60 / Ch61 signal "strength only" is because of the possibility that a 4G device was being installed anywhere near to wherever you might be located and the engineer has "unofficially" tested the device out, as 4G devices once operational are capable of causing the type of problem you are experiencing but only on close to the top end of the band, your ITV being just about on it.

By the way what model of Humax do you have?

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag

A

anthony

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

4:52 PM
Altrincham

Which Humax box are you using. Is on the TV OK if the is connected directly to it. From personal experience I can tell you that if a TETRA base has opened up recently in your area the loop through in a Humax 9200 will overload and cause this effect on 59 only, a TETRA mobile causes this on channel 60. Splitting the aerial feed with a good low loss splitter, half to the TV half to the Humax should clear the problem. If it is a base station the will be continuous if a mobile it will be intermittent. I assume you are not using an aerial amplifier of any kind as these are notorious for causing this type of problem.

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anthony's 58 posts GB flag

anthony's: A's Freeview map A's terrain plot A's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage

A

anthony

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

5:07 PM
Altrincham

Sorry the above should read TETRA base stations will cause problems on 58 (SDN ) Mobiles channel 59 ( 3/4) Although high level can cause problems on anything. TETRA stations frequently have 3 poles each carrying a number of folded dipoles and are used by a wide range .

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anthony's 58 posts GB flag

anthony's: A's Freeview map A's terrain plot A's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage

J

J palliser
6:51 PM

J palliser: humax is a pvr9200t. And all other work ok. I'm going to plug directly to the TV tonight to see what happen and also try a / look for any shorts on the ariel .
Ch60 and 61 and only at 20 and 12% strength. Ch59 is up and down like a yo-yo!! Any more advise from anyone??

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J palliser's 6 posts GB flag

M

mazbar

_{sentiment_satisfied}Gold

7:12 PM

J palliser: there is nothing on 61 and 60 the only channel numbers are 49, 50, 55, 58, 59 so try a factory reset, then a retune with out no will be found then do a manual tune on the numbers above, channel 50 takes longer than the others this helpd

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mazbar's 384 posts GB flag

J

J palliser
8:18 PM

Update.. Plug the ariel directly into the Sony TV that ha built in and I'm still experiencing the same problem on the Sony .. Even tried a and it's still breaking up..

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J palliser's 6 posts GB flag

J

J palliser
9:05 PM

Retune with and it has improved slightly but the is still up and down.. All other are fine so this has to be a signal issue with ch59..
Note that my ariel is in the and I have tree (now with leaves) on them to the south of me (the way the ariel is pointing)!!! Could this be part of this problem???

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J palliser's 6 posts GB flag

M

mazbar

_{sentiment_satisfied}Gold

9:17 PM

J palliser: yes

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mazbar's 384 posts GB flag

Page 78

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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