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 18/11/2024 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
9:41 AM

The uk website shows no problems at your location so you have some kind of local problem, , , trees the list is endless.

Never retune when you lose , TVs don't forget them unless they are faulty and you have now wiped part of its memory until as far as those channels are concerned.

More importantly.

NEVER PUT YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS ON ANY WEBSITE!

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anthony's 7 posts GB flag

B

B. Mason
3:48 PM
Lytham St. Annes

FY8 1PD
Could you tell me why I have constant on all my TV sets , I have re-tuned but it's still happening, thanking you in anticipation.

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B. Mason's 1 post GB flag

B.'s: B's Freeview map B's terrain plot B's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage

S

StevensOnln1

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

4:00 PM

B. Mason: Retuning won't fix (nor will it fix most problems). Has this started recently? It could be caused by a recently upgraded mobile phone nearby which has started operating 4G on frequencies just above those used by the . There is an organisation called AT800 which has been setup by the mobile operators to deal with this by sending you a free plug in filter if they believe 4G to be the source of your problem. See at800 | 4G & Freeview | 4G interference | 4G Filters | 800 MHz

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StevensOnln1's 3,671 posts GB flag

M

MikeB

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

9:58 PM

B.Mason: Could you define what you mean by ''? If the is pixallating and breaking up, check strength - your 36km from the , so if its a bit high then that can happen. or is its something else?

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag

P

Peter
10:02 AM

Sunday 18th September. I live in SK4 $NS and only have BBC1 and 2. Other than the fact that says possible weak Im at a loss as to why I cant receive anything else. Anyone have any ideas

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Peter's 1 post US flag

R

Richard Cooper

_{sentiment_satisfied}Gold

10:24 AM

Peter: Hi, Peter. The usual problem with not being able to receive a lot of from a 'main' is that the tv cabling has developed a dodgy connection somewhere along its route, either as a result of a break in the copper wire within the , frayed wiring, or even water ingress, so you need to check for all of these things as any or all of them can mean you can get one group of channels but not other groups of channels. I would not carry out these checks until it has been confirmed that 'has no reported problems',so to attempt these checks whilst Winter Hill is reporting 'possible weak ' wouldn't be a good idea, because this suggests that some of the channels are currently being transmitted at below their usual powers whilst works are going on. all this will you, Richard, Norwich.

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Richard Cooper's 471 posts GB flag

C

Chris
1:51 PM

Hello,
There seems to be a problem with the DVB-T2 Mux transmitted from @ 738Mhz
No or data seem do be downloading from this .
There also seems to be a CRC error with this multiplex

A with w_scan on linux on this mux produces:
737833: (time: 16:47.240) ok: QAM_AUTO = 737833 kHz I999B8C999D999T999G999Y999P0 (0:0:0)
QAM_AUTO f = 737833 kHz I999B8C999D999T999G999Y999P0 (0:0:0) : updating transport_stream_id: -> (0:0:16520)
WARNING: received garbage data: crc = 0x1a455243; expected crc = 0x938fd52f
increasing filter timeout to 42 secs (pid:16 table_id:64 table_id_ext:-1).
QAM_AUTO f = 737833 kHz I999B8C999D999T999G999Y999P0 (0:0:16520) : updating network_id -> (0:12330:16520)
WARNING: received garbage data: crc = 0x58a950f3; expected crc = 0x11c5ba35

Any chance someone could take a look

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Chris's 1 post GB flag

S

StevensOnln1

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

2:10 PM

Chris: No one from this website can investigate a problem as we have no connection with any broadcaster or transmission company. If the problem is causing you to loose on that and you are able to confirm that multiple homes are affected, I would suggest reporting the problem to the broadcaster who will be able investigate.

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StevensOnln1's 3,671 posts GB flag

A

anthony
8:32 PM

There seems to be a hang up on this site about weak signals from . Every time I read this I check and all 10 multiplexes are OK. Any periods of reduced will be extremely brief and occur during the day time. Winter Hill serves over 7 million people, it is second only to , if there was a problem web sites like this would be inundated with complaints as would the national press. problems have been dealt with on this together with the Spy website hundreds of times, Google your problem and follow the advice given. You have a problem, it could be anything, if you can't find it you will need the of a competent rigger.

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anthony's 7 posts GB flag

MikeP

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

10:31 AM

anthony:

Sorry, I had to have a titter when I read your post and then saw the entry below yours!

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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag

Page 135

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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