Full Freeview on the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 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 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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Tuesday, 9 December 2014
H
H J Hill8:36 PM
COM7 DROPOUTS (see earlier message on p116 at 5:12 pm)
Now Arqiva know they have a problem, they should publicly acknowledge it.
There will be people spending money trying to fix their aerials etc in the belief that it couldn't possibly be a transmission problem as it has gone on for so long.
Arqiva checked their logging equipment only because I supplied day/time/Freeview-channel data of the dropouts.
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Wednesday, 10 December 2014
A
anthony4:13 PM
Thank you for all the time and effort you have spent on this problem. As you probably know there has also been a log running thread on the Digital Spy site as well. We also got Arqiva to admit to a fault earlier in the year which they fixed but it has come back again albeit not as badly.
The main problem is that not that many people watch BBC4 HD via Freeview so that, combined with the fact that the SD service is OK, means that complaints are few. Unfortunately many people think that posting on a forum is enough but broadcasters don't read forums because of all the "odd" posts on them. Like us you followed the correct procedure and it looks like it will be fruitful.
If anyone else is experiencing these problems, not severe signal loss but the type listed on previous posts, please put in an official complaint via the Digital UK website.
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A
anthony4:15 PM
Thank you for all the time and effort you have spent on this problem. As you probably know there has also been a long running thread on the Digital Spy site as well. We also got Arqiva to admit to a fault earlier in the year which they fixed but it has come back again albeit not as badly.
The main problem is that not that many people watch BBC4 HD via Freeview so that, combined with the fact that the SD service is OK, means that complaints are few. Unfortunately many people think that posting on a forum is enough but broadcasters don't read forums because of all the "odd" posts on them. Like us you followed the correct procedure and it looks like it will be fruitful.
If anyone else is experiencing these problems, not severe signal loss but the type listed on previous posts, please put in an official complaint via the Digital UK website.
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M
mazbar4:46 PM
anthony: Isn't it funny I work all over Liverpool and west Lancashire and have no problems with com 7 other than the banks area and some parts of southport. Some areas just don't receive com 7 but most get it great. Like to day I done a job Just an rx12 aerial going into a 4 way splitter not amplifier and still got 56dbuv of signal. That is great for receiving com 7 all the people posting there is a problem with winter hill might just be in an area that just carnt receive the signal the others are just too cheap to pay someone to check the signal with a proper meter to see if they do have a problem, like the post from Liverpool 16 the other day I done a aerial not far from him in Liverpool 12 if a worst signal area and got 65 dbuv of a mzr20 aerial. The North west is the cheapest area for tv aerials in England so instead of putting up with picture break up just call someone in the worst it will be is a call out and to be told sorry I carnt get you any signal
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MikeP
10:24 PM
10:24 PM
With there apparently being an admitted problem at Winter Hill with COM7, it would be interesting to collate the locations being affected. It is just possible that the problem could be with one or more of the aerial elements on the mast. That would affect just those areas served by those elements and not others whose receptioon is from a section unaffected by the reported fault.
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M
Mike10:50 PM
For the last half hour at least Com7 has been on and off with severe drop outs here on the Fylde coast, much worse than usual I hope it is the engineers tinkering to resolve the ongoing issue.
Mike
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J
jb3811:16 PM
MikeP: Yes!, thats exactly my own line of thought on this matter, because faults of that nature are not necessarily picked up by indications on TX meters, as even although an iffy connection on an aerial element would normally upset the loading on a transmitter, the auto matching devices between the TX and the aerial would smooth this out to a certain extent whereby its not noticed.
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Thursday, 11 December 2014
mazbar: just checking... You have seen the radiation pattern for com7 on this transmitter?
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M
mazbar5:53 AM
Brian I have seen the radiation pattern for winter hill, I'm in ormskirk and according to the pattern this is coloured black I think this means poor or no signal but I get great signal.
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Thursday, 18 December 2014
M
Michael Draper11:18 AM
Sandbach
Paul Ryan: like a number of other people I have spoken to, and a number on Digital Spy, I am having problems of signal dropout on BBC4 HD and BBC News HD. It lasts only a second or two, but can happen several times during a single evening's viewing. Obviously it's very annoying, and my wife is convinced that I have broken something, so I get it in the neck from her as well! My aerials ( I have two, for my two newish TVs, and it happens on both) and cables are in good condition, and I have retuned many times to try and overcome the problem, but to no avail. It seems that there may be a problem at the transmitter end. Are you aware of a problem, and is a fix in the pipeline?
I live in Sandbach, Cheshire CW11 1BT
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Michael's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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