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?

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

2:47 PM

Tom Quirk:

In theory you are in a very good location but would need a full postcode to provide a more accurate predicted reception at your location, see About us | Freeview
does have Planned this week with "Possible service Interruptions"

Other than that, my immediate reaction, apart from checking that the hasn't moved in any winds, is that you may have damaged or aerial connections and rain is getting in, hence affecting the .

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Chris.SE's 4,363 posts GB flag

C

Chris Benson
7:54 AM

Hello! A couple of questions to ask for a good friend of mine who lives in WN7 (Leigh, near ).

1. Looking at this link - About us | Freeview - does this mean that from early next he will receive the channel? He can't view it at the moment. Also, what other will he pick up that he won't be able to view now (guessing Sony Channel and maybe a couple of others?)

2. I notice on the same website it's suggesting a aerial to pick up channels going forward, is this right?

Thanks once again - brilliant website. Chris

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Chris Benson's 3 posts GB flag

MikeP

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

10:01 AM

Chris Benson:

It would have been better to use the Detailed View option as that shows more detail. Look at About us | Freeview and see the current and planned future channel usage. That shows they expect all eight major multiplexes to be easily received, but not any local .

Looking at the being used and proposed for future use, a aerial will be essential to get all the programmes possible.

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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag

S

StevensOnln1

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

10:57 AM

Chris Benson: I think MikeP is misreading the DigitalUK checker results, as it shows that your friend should have good of not just 1 but 2 local multiplexes at that postcode following changes on 23rd October if using a aerial.

It's worth noting that your friend may be eligible to have a replacement wideband aerial fitted free of charge if they loose reception of any of the multiplexes they are currently receiving and don't have or (see link below).

Important changes to Freeview | Freeview

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StevensOnln1's 3,671 posts GB flag

MikeP

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

8:30 PM

StevensOnln1:

I did not misread the data main presented and stated " they expect all eight major multiplexes to be easily received".

What I didn't do was to scroll down to the local multiplexes where it show they will be only one service but on two different , 21 and 24 (after the October retune). Both are named 'L-MAN/L-LIV' so that suggests they are carrying the same programming - or are they trying to mislead viewers?

Why do they show the local multiplexes completely separately from the main ones? That is what leads to confusion and doubt.

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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag

N

nobody

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

12:30 AM

MikeP: Yes Mike, it's a poor show.

They are different. "Liverpool TV" is on - you guessed it - L-LIV but L-MAN has "That's TV".

What's more, this:

About us | Freeview

shows both LOC1 (MAN) and LOC2 (LIV) moving from 56 to 24.

Confused? Not half!

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nobody's 51 posts US flag

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

9:11 PM

nobody: It's a damned poor show, and
MikeP: StevensOnln1:

I fell into exactly the same hole here Freeview 700MHz clearance (retune) dates | free and easy
David Railton: If you happen to read here see my reply over there.

I know I'd previously been caught out some while ago and since then I normally try to remember to check toward the bottom of the page for Local Mux detail but it's easy to miss or forget when you're trying to do a quick helpful reply to someone or maybe a bit tired. DigitalUK really need to get their act together, but based on my experience over the years, they are pretty hopeless. One error I pointed out to them didn't get corrected until 4 years later, and another recently pointed out still exists - luckily it won't be of any significant importance to most.

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Chris.SE's 4,363 posts GB flag

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

9:17 PM

All:

Oh, and forgot to say, it makes the incorrect listings here on this page even more confusing!

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Chris.SE's 4,363 posts GB flag

B

Brian Russell
9:00 AM

What is happening to ArqB (Yesterday, 5Spike, 4Seven, etc.)? ArqB is not listed in the post 23rd October 2019 list shown above.

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Brian Russell's 2 posts GB flag

S

StevensOnln1

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

9:25 AM

Brian Russell: According to UK, COM6/ArqB remains on UHF 37 where it is now and is not planned to change again.

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StevensOnln1's 3,671 posts GB flag

Page 170

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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