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?

D

dave Coulson
8:56 PM

According to DigitalUK, G Man launched Saturday 15/02/2014 on Ch57. Anybody seen it or any info as to whether it really happened?

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dave Coulson's 2 posts GB flag

C

Chris Harris
6:39 PM

OK, this is probably a dumb question but I get at all on , & . New time? Would a signal be likely to do any good?

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Chris Harris's 3 posts US flag

Dave Lindsay

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

6:45 PM

Chris Harris: Without knowledge of your location it is impossible to answer the question as to how likely you might be to pick up these , this being because they are on lower than the main channels.

is not on air yet. uses DVB-T2 so if there is an option on the manual tuning screen for DVB-T or DVB-T2 then it must be set to the latter.

On the manual tuning screen, entering/selecting the desired UHF channel number and waiting (not pressing the button to /add ) should allow the device to be used as a meter, thereby giving you an idea of whether there is a signal there but which is not good enough.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag

C

Chris Harris
12:09 PM
Frodsham

Thanks Dave, I'm at WA6 7LX.
I tried the manual tuning option but am getting 0% on the strength on using DVB-T2 and also on using DVB-T.
I'm guessing the signals are just too low powered given how far I am from the .

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Chris Harris's 3 posts GB flag

Chris's: C's Freeview map C's terrain plot C's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Dave Lindsay

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

2:25 PM

Chris Harris: In which case isn't likely to be available to you because broadcasts directionally towards Manchester. You may, however, be able to receive the local Liverpool when it comes on air. It will be on at 2kW.

I suggest that in order to pick up you may require a aerial.
The transmission of it is, according to UK, 24kW, as against 100kW for the main .

But 24kW is in now way "low"; the fact that it is about a quarter of the others does not mean it only carries a quarter of the distance. It is a minority of viewers who live in spots where the can't be seen who really need the extra power to have any fighting chance.

You have line-of-sight, or probably near linee-of-sight, were it not for the higher ground at , as this terrain plot shows:

Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location

If your aerial is a Group C/D one (best at to C69) then it is likely to be less sensitive on C31, hence a wideband being suggested.

Wideband log periodics have much flatter response curves than wideband yagis, as is shown here:

Gain (curves), Again

For that reason a log may be the better bet.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag

C

Chris Harris
4:40 PM

Thanks for all your Dave, I'll look into getting a log periodic - I'm sure it'll be useful in the long term.

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Chris Harris's 3 posts GB flag

Dave Lindsay

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

5:42 PM

Chris Harris: Indeed. If/when the next lot of TV frequencies get cleared to sell off to the mobile operators then that will mean will have to move downwards further, which will put it outside Group C/D.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag

D

David Roberts

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

9:54 PM
Colwyn Bay

The Liverpool Local Mux from ,on UHF ch56,is being received rather well,in the North Coastal areas. Checks at various addresses i have been called to,have provided strength's between 50 - 75%,in my local area,of Colwyn Bay. As if it needed to be said,Winter Hill,is by far the the most watched DVB-T site,in the North Wales coastal areas,despite the area being dropped by ITV ,in the Summer of 2009.

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David Roberts's 23 posts GB flag

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

J

jo
11:34 AM
Stockport

I have a tv with an indoor I have used successfully for the last couple of years. During the day this seems to be fine, but the drops dramatically during the evening, and I loose most apart from BBC. This has happened over the last couple of nights - during the early hours of the morning and after 10 at night.
Is there a reason for this?

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jo's 2 posts GB flag

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

J

Jo Gannon
1:39 PM
Stockport

jo:
I've checked this and everything is fine - it's just overnight when it seems to drop.
My location is SK4 3BJ. As I have said, I have used an indoor for years which has always worked.

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Jo Gannon's 2 posts GB flag

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

Page 98

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