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

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps53.625,-2.516 or 53°37'30"N 2°30'56"Wsa_postcodeBL6 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 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
Tuesday, 2 July 2013
S
Stephen
11:48 PM
Chorley

Ever since I bought my Sony Freeview HD TV in January 2011 I have enjoyed perfect picture and audio on all services, both SD and HD. Within the last month this has changed.
The HD services are still perfect but BBC 1 NW (which I only watch for the local news) on Ch 50 is now problematic: one day all is fine; then the next there is no service; the following day all is fine again and the next - who knows? Sometimes reception is passable but there are picture and audio breaks; sometimes there is nothing at all.
I've followed the resetting/retuning procedure several times but the problem just returns, so I'm assuming that it isn't a tuning problem. In fact, I'm certain because all my other Freeview tuners (Humax PVR and no-name STB) are suffering in the same manner.
I'm writing this today because it's a bad day and I'm getting seriously fed up!

For the record, signal strength and quality for the various channels, obtained from the Humax HDR-FOX T2 PVR, are as follows:
Ch. 50: 38%; 10%
Ch. 59: 55-66% (variable); 100%
Ch. 54: 55%; 100%
Ch. 58: 55%; 100%
Ch. 49: 38%; 10%
Ch. 55: 55-66% (variable); 100%
So something amiss with 49 and 50 alone.
Transmitter is Winter Hill, of course.

Any suggestions, please?

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Stephen's 6 posts GB flag
Stephen's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 3 July 2013
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:16 AM

Stephen: I looked on Streetview and the aerials on long poles tells the story.

I do note that some houses have an aerial on Winter Hill and one on Moel-y-Parc, which is 90 degrees clockwise from the former. If yours is one of these and the feeds of both aerials is combined into one downlead then you may have to say goodbye to this convenience. This is because the diplexer, which is the box that combines the two feeds, will probably "split" at C51, meaning that C50 and C49 are now being picked up by the Moel-y-Parc aerial.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
R
RCM
11:22 AM

I have exactly the same problem as Stephen
(Tuesday 2 July 2013 11:48PM, on the same channels and with approximately the same reception values (also sourced from a Humax HDR-FOX T2), it is also on all the reception devices (4xTV, 1xHumax PVR & 1xDTV USB stick for laptop reception)

The only difference is that I live in north Manchester. The aerial is pointing in the direction of Winter Hill and is not obscured in any way as I live on top of a hill.

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RCM's 3 posts GB flag
S
Stephen
6:18 PM
Chorley

Many thanks, Dave, for your swift and well-researched reply. I do indeed have a Wales-pointing aerial. This is now just a throwback to the analogue days so, if it's compromising my Winter Hill reception, it will have to go.
What I still don't understand is why reception varies so much. After last night's poor show, I'm just home from work and found that channels 49 and 50 are back up to 44% and 100% on signal strength and quality respectively and perfectly watchable.

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Stephen's 6 posts GB flag
Stephen's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:40 PM

Stephen: Because the aerial you are using (the Moel-y-Parc one) is pointing at 90 degrees to where the signal is coming from. Maybe at times the signal is being reflected onto the front of the aerial by some other object, or some other effect caused by moving/changing objects such as trees. Maybe even, because you are low down, a motor vehicle on ground that is higher and perhaps nearer the height of your aerial is reflecting the Winter Hill signal.

There is no reason why you can't keep the other aerial with a separate downlead to your lounge. Or just turn it to face Winter Hill, retaining the diplexer as it is.

We have already seen channels 61 to 68 cleared for use by 4G mobile operators. In future, channels 60 and below may be cleared, such as for 5G.

This will obviously affect those viewers using Group C/D aerials (on Group C/D transmitters). C/D channels are officially 48 to 68.

If Winter Hill's channels are moved downwards further then they may go onto Group B channels (35 to 53). Moel-y-Parc uses Group B channels, so presumably your MyP aerial is Group B (if not wideband). For this reason it might be wise to keep it because it might be of use in the future, if your Winter Hill aerial is a C/D one.

See:

Aerials, TV Aerial and Digital Aerial

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
S
Stephen
7:55 PM
Chorley

Thanks again, Dave. It would seem that redirecting the MyP aerial towards Winter Hill would be the best solution: turns it away from interfering with my preferred transmitter and provides some degree of future-proofing should channel changes, as you suggest, occur. Could be a win-win :-)

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Stephen's 6 posts GB flag
Stephen's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 4 July 2013
A
anthony
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

4:03 PM
Altrincham

If you are going to have to pay someone to move your aerial it might be better value in the long run to have someone reputable replace it with a wide band one pointing at winter hill together with CT100 or similar coax.

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anthony's 58 posts GB flag
anthony's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 5 July 2013
S
Susan omar
6:01 PM

Free view intermittent for the last month I have only been able to watch bbc 1 uninterrupted . Any other channel keeps breaking up in blocks on the tv .. We have bt vision box which works fine prior to this .we phoned the at800.tv and they informed us our area unaffected as 4 g not here ?? Don't know what else can do

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Susan omar's 1 post GB flag
M
mazbar
sentiment_satisfiedGold

6:26 PM

Susan omar: what is your postcode

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mazbar's 384 posts GB flag
Monday, 8 July 2013
M
Mike Harris
11:53 AM

What MUX from Winter Hill is the new 'Drama' channel, supposed to be starting today? Then I can do a manual retune.

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Mike Harris's 1 post GB flag
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Your comment please
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.

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