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 25/11/2024 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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Friday, 3 July 2020
C
Chris.SE9:53 PM
Karl:
You're doing quite well it seems. Both the Freeview and BBC predictors give COM7 as variable, with the Served figure being 57 from Freeview, not as good as Robert Lee (88). What is interesting though is that neither give a prediction for the Liverpool mux on C21 and of course the petal isn't beamed in your direction, so you might lose it with a loft aerial.
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Saturday, 4 July 2020
K
Karl12:57 PM
Thornton-cleveleys
Chris.SE:
Thanks Chris. Out of curiosity I tried adding more attenuation to the feed to the Sony TV... so that is already a 3 way split and so around 6db down and I added a further 10, 12 and then 15db in turn.
Quality was 100% for the 10db, 99% for the 12db and 25% for the 15db. Digital cliff edge approaching rapidly I think. Signal strengths were 30, 25 and 13% respectively.
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Karl's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE2:16 PM
Karl:
Undoubtedly the cliff edge approaching. How particular sets cope when approaching such limits will vary from one set design/manufacturer to another. Some sets can cope with much lower signal strength before the quality starts dropping and even then how they cope with that will vary. I was rather surprised the other week when we had some tropo with a good lift, one multiplex I managed to pick up on one set was showing 14% signal occasionally dropping and 9% quality peak dropping to almost 0% quality, yet I has steady picture and sound for most of the time, no break-up!
Whilst following general guidance - if your set displays 100% signal, as long as it still shows 100% quality then you may be ok, but if you have occasional picture/sound break-up or a missing weaker mux, consider the fact you may have too much signal and need to wind the signal down a bit. Some sets can start having overloaded front ends/tuner desensitisation at less than 100% displayed signal.
It can be very much a case of experiment, suck and see in some circumstances, some times it can need to be a compromise to get what you want (and in some cases not want!). I have come across cases where a manual tune isn't possible and to avoid a 2nd unwanted transmitter, put in some attenuation whilst tuning, then remove it after.
This is a very much overlooked tool for such situations, eg. - Coax TV Aerial Attenuator Adjustable Variable Between 0-20 dB Reduces signal | eBay (eBay item 310039226920)
There are other suppliers available (and some rip-off prices) but I've found that brand good value for money.
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Sunday, 5 July 2020
K
Karl9:47 AM
Thornton-cleveleys
Chris.SE:
Thanks for the link, those kind of things are really useful actually.
The big problem/s I have with juggling attenuators are these:
1/ The Sony HDD recorder (HXD870) has no means of preventing it background scanning for channels when in standby. Although any rogue entries can be deleted from the EPG and seeming got rid of that way I find that timer recordings still get confused and consequently the program from the wrong region will be recorded.
2/ The much newer (still current) Panasonic HD HDD recorder has a well documented issue of locking up and becoming unresponsive, usually overnight. Lots of customer reports of this. I've noticed it happens every time there is a change to the Freeview platform and so that leads to suspect it also locks up when out of region transmissions are strong enough to be logged as a new channel or a change in channel lineup. So I have an attenuator in that feed as well.
I'm hoping both these issues will be improved once the final shuffling is done.
The Sony TV just sorts everything automatically and never blinks.
Amplifying only to attenuate again breaks all the rules but it seems to provide a workable solution in my case. It would be interesting to see how much attenuation the incoming signal from the aerial could stand and perhaps use that as a basis for how well a loft aerial might perform... but you know what it's like... its a bit a chore going up there and running up and down ladders to look at the effect as you change something.
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Karl's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE10:29 PM
Karl:
> .. its a bit a chore going up there and running up and down ladders to look at the effect as you change something.
Ha, we've all been there at one time or other :D
Your amplifier isn't external is it?
The main thing about using amplifiers is to get as good a signal as possible at the aerial. The worst thing is amplifying an unnecessarily poor signal. Nothing wrong with attenuating a "good" signal that's too strong.
With the aerial connected direct to the downlead, you can experiment with the attenuator at the set, in any event it's the best place to do any attenuation.
If you are messing around with a loft aerial, a portable set if you have one is useful, otherwise if you can put a set somewhere near the loft ladder (not where you might fall on it!) and use a short cable to connect the set to the aerial/distribution.
That Sony HDD must be a right pain, as for Panasonic, lots of people say their stuff has gone right down the pan in recent years. I've given up recording stuff, never manage to find time to watch it :yikes: I can use catch-up if I want to and find time!
Shuffling is likely to continue aside from 700MHz Clearance. Broadcasters have this nasty habit of closing/opening channels and moving multiplexes depending on the deal they get with the mux operator. A pain in the butt, to put it moderately politely.
Don't forget to keep any HDMI leads as far away as possible from aerial & flyleads as they can sometimes cause interference, notably with C55 (COM7) where a number of people have had problems.
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Tuesday, 7 July 2020
K
Karl7:53 PM
Thornton-cleveleys
Chris.SE:
That very problem you mention of HDMI leads and cable routing is something I came across a couple of years ago with this set up. I had wondered if I could dispense with the amplifier altogether and which is in the loft by the way and not external... and all seemed OK until the Sony recorder was turned on, and when it was BBC4 HD and News24 HD etc went AWOL. If I separated the leads somewhat then it was OK but having untidy wiring is something that drives me nuts and so the amplifier stayed. I hadn't got the Panasonic at that time.
I must admit I time shift pretty much everything and aside from the Sony's little tendency to want to grab out of band signals I have to say that it has been the single best bit of kit I have owned. On average I bet it has seen 4 to 5 hours daily use... it may even be more. The attenuators have pretty much 100% fixed those other issues though.
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Karl's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 8 July 2020
C
Chris.SE11:52 PM
Karl:
Well you should be all clued up now Karl and know what to expect. Do post back with any other queries/ideas whenever you need.
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Wednesday, 15 July 2020
P
Peter Wickes6:40 PM
I have lost BBC1 on 751, BBC2 on 752, and BBC News on 758 from Winterhill. Retuning does not rectify the errorr
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C
Chris.SE7:54 PM
Peter Wickes:
The Winter Hill transmitter is listed for Planned Engineering this week with "Possible Service interruptions".
The Freeview site is also listing there being a current live issue that may be affecting reception.
This is the most likely cause of the problem.
As you have retuned whilst the signals were missing, you may have to retune again when signals return as the correct tuning may have been cleared. You may have to try several times as no detail of when signals will return has been provided.
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Thursday, 16 July 2020
C
Chris.SE12:12 AM
All:
Major update since my last post here, Freeview have just announced the dates for the final 700MHz Clearance events. It will be the 12th August for Winter Hill and some relays (and some remaining Granada region transmitters and relays). Douglas is on the 19th August.
So as previously posted the final channels for Winter Hill will be -
C32, C34, C35, C29, C31, C37, C55, C24, C21, C40, C27 that's in the order
PSBs1-3, COMs4-7, Manchester Local, Liverpool local, Preston Local, Manchester GI multiplex.
(There is a query on the channel for the Liverpool local mux as the clearance document says C24 -same as Manchester so unlikely) whereas other documents all say C21 as at present).
NOTE: IF you are not currently getting good/any reception of the BBC SD main channels on UHF C32 in their correct LCNs 1,2,& etc and only getting them in LCNs 751 & seq. on UHF C50, then the C50 simulcast will cease on the 12th August, and if you haven't arranged for the Free In-Home Support to have your aerial replaced you should do so A.S.A.P. by ringing Freeview on 0808-100-0288.
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