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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 11/11/2024 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), 71 That’s 60s,

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 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)726mDTG-8100,000W
Channel icons
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)726mDTG-8100,000W
Channel icons
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)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, 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?

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
Wednesday, 20 November 2013
B
BERNARD PARKER
11:09 AM
Lymm

I keep loosing the bbc stations overnight. I keep retuning in the morning but they dont work untill about 10:30. The overnight they dissapear again. POST CODE WA13 0NG

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BERNARD PARKER's 1 post GB flag
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Thursday, 21 November 2013
D
D Hardy
9:36 AM
Stockport

I live in Romiley but have moved my aerial to Winter Hill or so I think but BBC1 is shown as 514mhz on Ch26 which doesn't seem to be broadcast from Winter Hill.

If it isn't where am I picking up BBC1 North West from?

Having moved the aerial I can now also receive Yesterday on Ch48 690mhz shown as Wales is this from Moel Y Parc?

Am slightly puzzled by this.

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D Hardy's 8 posts GB flag
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R
Russ Dring
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

10:32 AM
Spalding

D Hardy: Looks like the relay vertical polarization at Ladder Hill. Ch 48 is broadcast from Moel Y Parc.

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Russ Dring's 48 posts GB flag
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D
D Hardy
11:32 AM
Stockport

D Hardy: Russ
Seems from what you say I'm certainly not on Winter Hill
but how am I getting a signal from two geographically different locations?

Clearly my sense of direction is way out if i was aiming for Winter Hill.

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D Hardy's 8 posts GB flag
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Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:19 PM

D Hardy: It isn't necessarily the case that your aerial is not pointing to Winter Hill.

Even with an aerial pointing to a particular transmitter and providing a good signal, a receiver can "decide" to go with a different one during the automatic tuning scan. It is worth noting that Ladder Hill's channels are lower than Winter Hill's and so are picked up earlier during the scan.

Winter Hill is on a bearing of 309 degrees and Moel y Parc is at 255 degrees.

Try manual scans of Winter Hill's UHF channels. Digital UK predictor doesn't rate them although I'm somewhat sceptical that predicted interference from another transmitter could be playing its part in the prediction.

If your Romiley aerial is a Group B one (yellow tip) then it won't be best for Winter Hill:

Aerials, TV Aerial and Digital Aerial

Winter Hill is all Group C/D, although with the possibility that in the future the rest of C/D could be sold off for mobile services it is wise to use a Group E or even wideband.

If you can receive COM channels from Moel y Parc you could diplex that aerial with one on Ladder Hill to give you North West programming.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:27 PM

D Hardy: Receiving channels from Winter Hill or Moel y Parc come with the warning that it might not work or might be intermittent, perhaps seasonal.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
D
D Hardy
7:24 PM
Stockport

Dave Lindsay

Thanks for your detailed comments lots of advice to take on board.

I'm using a wideband high gain aerial which I hope will help with signal strength/quality.

Some more adjustments to do I think!!

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D Hardy's 8 posts GB flag
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Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:02 PM

D Hardy: Having looked at your location, you clearly have a number of factors that could cause you difficulty with reception from Winter Hill!

I refer to the fact that you are down a slope which is tree covered, and you may be in a bungalow (so lower down).

Looking at Streetview photos (taken October 2008) most aerials are on the Romiley relay transmitter.

What I will say is that higher gain isn't always better because in order to increase gain, the acceptance angle (or "viewing" angle) is narrower. Thus, you are looking for good average quality across a narrower angle, whereas a wider acceptance angle may give better average quality. The strength can be increased by an amplifier, but if the signal is poor nothing can be done.

Good luck!

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Friday, 22 November 2013
D
D Hardy
8:41 AM
Stockport

Thanks, Dave

I'll keep having a go.

Not costing me anything except my time so worth it to see
what I can achieve.

Cheers

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D Hardy's 8 posts GB flag
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D
D Hardy
12:07 PM
Stockport

Dave Lindsey

Just moved aerial again and this time I'm clearly on MYP and the signal strength and quality are pretty good.

Presumably I could diplex Romiley and MYP but does that mean a large reduction in signal strength/quality?

Could you recommend an suitable diplexer as some are perhaps not the best quality and what do I need to watch out for.

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D Hardy's 8 posts GB flag
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