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 04/11/2024 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?

A

anthony

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

4:28 PM

No and No, they are only available in the Manchester area from a very low powered and the there is fairly patchy.

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anthony's 58 posts GB flag

M

MikeC

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

11:22 AM
Altrincham

Interestingly, I find the tv / stb make itself and its tuner sensitivity has a BIG bearing on just which you will pick up.

All connected to the same , I find my Toshiba lcd is the most sensitive and picks up everything - including Welsh channels & picked up the G Man first. Whereas my Panasonic 32" LCD didn't pick up the G Man channels until months later & my Technomate 6902 HD Super still doesn't pick up all of stuff.

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MikeC's 64 posts GB flag

MikeC's: M's Freeview map M's terrain plot M's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage

M

Martin
4:05 PM

On the subject of . Switch off all appliances in your home when the interference occurs. If the interference stops then each appliance will need to be turned off in turn to find the cause. If the interference is not from your own property then you can contact who will find the source. They have the to ensure that the cause is removed. I did this a number of years ago and they traced the source to an arcing room thermostat in a house in the next road that happened to be in line with my . Note that if you call them out and the source of interference is in your property they will charge you. It used to be £50.

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Martin's 1 post GB flag

G

Greebo
12:00 AM
Manchester

@ - that (see Oct 1st) may be your understanding but it is not mine. The G_MAN mux is a under a different type of broadcasting licence than the completely seperate upcoming local muxes. G_MAN is much less restricted in how it is configured- hence in a less robust supporting 6 whereas the new local muxes are limited to the licenced local service plus 2 more pseudo-national channels maximum. I can't see Canis Media wanting to shut down a useful testbed, however shoestring it might be, unless it is losing them money- and even then they could sell the licence on.

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Greebo's 2 posts GB flag

Greebo's: G's Freeview map G's terrain plot G's frequency data G's Freeview Detailed Coverage

S

Stephen Crossland
11:00 PM

Having trouble with 50. The BBC channel.
I live on the edge of and sometimes when need pick up the BBC from .
Might be something to do with atmospheric conditions but I have not been able to tune into the BBC all evening.
That said I have been paying my BBC license fee since the '70's.
Could the signal be boosted?
Thought I would ask. Many Thanks

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Stephen Crossland's 2 posts GB flag

S

Stephen Crossland
12:34 AM

It's back.
Thank you.
s.

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Stephen Crossland's 2 posts GB flag

P

Paul Cesnavicius
7:02 AM
Manchester

Hello There,

I have a Wharfdale 250DTR that has been working fine for years, but just recently has started to loose CH59 overnight.

I presume the problem lies is in the box,
but ideas would be most helpfull ?
My postcode is M44

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Paul Cesnavicius's 1 post EU flag

Paul's: P's Freeview map P's terrain plot P's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage

D

Dave Smith
8:51 PM

I have 3 TVs using 2 separate aerials. Over the last few days I have had terrible on a number of including the BBC and ITV channels. I'm in the Wigan area. Not sure if there is any 4G work/ tests in the area.

Anyone else experiencing problems?
Dave.

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Dave Smith's 1 post GB flag

D

Dave
7:53 PM
Leyland

I am having trouble receiving BBC on the bedroom tv from an outside which is split with dining room tv (which receives BBC okay) for the last 3 or 4 months when previously I could receive them. I am in Leyland, PR25 4ZS.

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Dave's 1 post GB flag

Dave's: D's Freeview map D's terrain plot D's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage

S

Simes
1:11 PM
Northwich

Hi, I cannot receive any of the on the ArqA . All the other 5 multiplexes are good, but on ArqA (channel 49 at ), I get nothing. I am using a new Yagi C/D/E , good , etc, but am about 25 miles from Winter Hill and have not quite got clear line of sight. That said, I cannot think of a reason why ArqA should pick up practically when every other channel is good. Any thoughts, please?

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Simes's 1 post GB flag

Simes's: S's Freeview map S's terrain plot S's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Page 89

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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