Full Freeview on the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter
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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 18/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels 
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Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
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 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 | |||||
| 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-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 | ITVwaves | ||||||||
| C12 | BBCtvwaves | ||||||||
| C24 | _local | ||||||||
| C29 | SDN | ||||||||
| C31 | com7 | com7 | |||||||
| C32 | BBCA | ||||||||
| C34 | D3+4 | ||||||||
| C35 | BBCB | ||||||||
| C37 | com8 | com8 | |||||||
| C40 | LOCAL2 | ||||||||
| C48 | C5waves | C5waves | |||||||
| C49tv_off | ArqA | ArqA | |||||||
| C50tv_off | BBCA | BBCA | |||||||
| C54tv_off | -BBCB | -BBCB | -BBCB | ||||||
| C55tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | ArqB | ArqB | ArqB | com7tv_off | ||
| C56tv_off | _local | _local | _local | LPR | |||||
| C57tv_off | GIM | GIM | GIM | GIM | |||||
| C58tv_off | SDN | SDN | SDN | ||||||
| C59tv_off | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | |||
| C61 | ArqA | ||||||||
| C62 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | |||||
| C65 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves |
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 GranadaWhich companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Winter Hill transmitter area
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Monday, 1 December 2014
H
H J Hill10:25 AM
The Arqiva, COM7, UHF-31, intermittent drop-out appears to have been fixed (sometime between 27 and 28 November 2014). Whether it's another Arqiva fix that'll soon go wrong again remains to be seen.
There was a time when persistent faults were acknowledged with an on-screen message "There is a fault. Do not adjust your set." These days nobody bothers. The multiplex/transmission company sits on its hands/profits until enough members of the public complain. Meanwhile, some viewers will conclude their receiving equipment is faulty (as the unacknowledged fault has gone on for so long) and engage in trouble and expense trying to fix it. I did.
The whole business is a scandal; and I have complained strongly to Ofcom about it. Whatever happened to serving the public? I've also raised it with Channel Four Corporation and the BBC, since they have been paying Arqiva for a deficient transmission service off Winter Hill on COM7.
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A
anthony10:55 AM
Thank you very much for that information as I have been using the SD service again recently ( my wife was grumbling about the drop outs even though they were few and far between).
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H
H J Hill10:47 PM
Monday 1 December 2014:
Sorry to have to contradict my earlier message. The Arqiva COM7, UHF-31, drop outs have not been fixed.
Today, two hit "15-to-1" on CH4+1HD (16:18 and 16:25); and one hit "Dancing Cheek to Cheek" on BBC FOUR HD (21:23).
I'm not watching the damned multiplex all the time (I'm not paid to; nor is anyone, it seems). These are the first ones I have observed since 20:54 on Thursday 27 November 2014.
It's an utter disgrace; and on a transmitter serving 7 million.
Anyone else affected, complain to DigitalUK and report day/time of incidents. Arqiva is like dear old British Leyland: they leave it to the customer to check the quality standard of the product.
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Tuesday, 2 December 2014
M
mazbar6:05 AM
H J Hill: When you had your aerial checked to see if there was a problem what did the aerial man say could be the problem
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H
H J Hill11:47 AM
Tuesday 2 December: 11:30
Every HD-carrying multiplex on Winter Hill is off-air (so some SD channels are therefore missing too).
The OFF multiplexes are: COM7; BBC-B; and Arq-B. These are on UHF-channels (not Freeview numbers) 31; 54; and 55 respectively.
Presumably this means they are fixing the COM7 fault on UHF-31. I certainly hope so.
If the fault had been on Crystal Palace, serving London, one suspects it would have been fixed PDQ.
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M
mazbar11:53 AM
H J Hill: There is no fault on winter hill I am sitting here watching Bbc news hd with no problems. Have your system checked by a professional you still haven't put a postcode so we know where you are as some places aren't covered .
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H
H J Hill11:54 AM
Mazbar
I have no problem. COM7 on UHF transmission channel 31 has been suffering a frequent, intermittent fault for many weeks. This affects only the following Freeview channels: BBC News HD; BBC Four HD; CH4+1 HD; CH4seven HD; Aljazeera (English) HD; Community HD; Aljazeera (Arabic) SD; Motors TV SD; Jewellery Maker SD
Do not adjust your set or spend money; the problem is Arqiva's. They never acknowledged it on-air. One wonders what the legal situation is for anyone recouping money spent unnecessarily on aerials etc.
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M
mazbar12:41 PM
H J Hill: There is no problem With winter hill the most likely problem is with either your tv or your aerial I have had no complaints in the ormskirk area with any multiplexes but if you are happy to think it is the transmitter that's fine but it probably won't get fixed but you will be happy how old is your aerial by the way.
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H
H J Hill12:50 PM
Tuesday 2 December: 12:40
All Winter Hill multiplexes appear to be back on normal strength.
Some embarrassment here: in my message at 11:30 today there was an error (possibly two!). The multiplexes I identified were not off. They were on reduced power. My 12-month-old Panasonic has an insensitive HD tuner (unlike its PVR/Blue-Ray buddy of a similar age). The PVR and an old Humax HD box were able to make sense of the reduced signal here (North Yorks, near Lancs border); the Pana TV just showed "No signal" making me think the multiplexes were off.
The reduced power may also explain why DigitalUK today lists "Possible service interruptions" for the "Granada" region relays, but nothing for Winter Hill.
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M
Mike2:28 PM
H J Hill: I have been seeing this intermittent drop out for months on Com7 . I sent a complaint to DigitalUK about two months ago and Arquiva told them they were fixing it. I never saw any improvement at all and it is still happening, on two completely independent aerial systems (one a Log40, the other a medium gain Yagi) and two different receivers. My postcode check gives all muxes 100% in the green.
I have re-submitted a complaint to DigitalUK, and Arquiva have asked for contact details of those affected.
Most of the recordings I make on BBC4HD have a loss-of-signal flag against them because the glitch happens randomly at between two and four times an hour, but luckily the Humax's still record, glitch included.
The original fault was reported from viewers in Manchester, Macclesfield, Preston, Blackpool and others. So not local spot problems, and it's been going on for too long.
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