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.

This transmitter has no current reported problems

The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter.

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?

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

5:09 AM

- Winter Hill transmitter: Possible effect on TV week commencing 18/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 3,109 posts GB flag

N

nick
5:12 PM
Wigan

:
Terrible across lots of , started yesterday 20/11/24.
no reception at all of itv, bbc was ok until today and now pixelating.
I am based in Wigan WN3 5HG Area.

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nick's 1 post GB flag

nick's: N's Freeview map N's terrain plot N's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

5:10 AM

- Winter Hill transmitter: Possible effect on TV week commencing 25/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all [DUK]

link to this comment

Transmitter engineering's 3,109 posts GB flag

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

5:10 AM

- Winter Hill transmitter: Possible effect on TV week commencing 25/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all [DUK]

link to this comment

Transmitter engineering's 3,109 posts GB flag

Transmitter engineering

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

5:10 AM

- Winter Hill transmitter: Possible effect on TV week commencing 02/12/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 3,109 posts GB flag

S

Simon McCurdy
11:49 AM

Hi there. I have had a problem for 2-3 weeks now, whereby BBC B transmissions completely disappeared. We live in , near , Cheshire. was aimed at and has historically received everything available across all . Overnight, all the BBC B channels were no longer being received. I checked the strength / of CH35 via the TV and got a completely nil result.

I have moved the aerial to receive from the Bollington repeater, and now get the BBC B channels via Channel 30+ but a limited number of channels/MUXs from there.

A couple of days ago I tried pointing the aerial back at Winter Hill and still received no BBC B channels and nil signal on CH35.

Any ideas what might be causing this? I wondered whether it was hardware, but given the same hardware is now picking up from the Bollington would suggest otherwise? The signal doesn't pass through any or VCR/DVRs, only a labgear distribution .

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Simon McCurdy's 1 post GB flag

S

StevensOnln1

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

3:00 PM

Simon McCurdy: There has been planned work affecting the over the last few weeks, so it may just be that the strength has been reduced slightly too low to be receivable while the work is taking place. Unfortunately they never say what the work involves or when it is due to be completed.

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StevensOnln1's 3,680 posts GB flag

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

12:19 AM

Simon McCurdy:

We really need a full postcode to provide some constructive advice for you.
In some locations there can be significant differences in of each and there could be a number of reasons, the usual is lie of the land - local terrain and the possibility of partly obscured line of sight to the wanted signal (trees, buildings etc.) but a potential path to an interfering signal from elsewhere.
And of course, from other sources.
Any of these could be having an effect on some of the other multiplexes but not giving any visible/observable effects on your viewable signal.

In your set's Tuning section can you look for the Signal Strength and % for each multiplex's UHF and post those figures as well as your postcode. This could identify possible issues.
As has been mentioned reduced (or use of the reserve - lower down the ) could cause the signal (esp.) to be just too low.

The other thing you could also do, is connect the aerial direct to the feed to the one used by your main TV, so bypassing your distribution amp (switch it off as well) and then comparing the Signal Strength and Quality figures.

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Chris.SE's 4,394 posts GB flag

K

Karl

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

1:52 PM

It might also be worth remembering that historically was Group C/D and moved to Group A in the final reshuffle 3 or 4 years ago. There are still many using older grouped C/D aerials that give marginal strength at best and will give a drastically reduced level when power is reduced for maintenance.

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Karl's 21 posts GB flag

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

7:52 PM

Karl:

Quite right Karl, thanks for the reminder. Asking about the age of someone's is a question I ask now and again if it seems likely that this sort of (or other related) factor might be relevant. As that poster wasn't having an issue with + at , the question may only have arisen if he'd replied and other indications were that it may be due to a poor aerial for one reason or another.
Nevertheless not something to lose sight of :)

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Chris.SE's 4,394 posts GB flag

Page 215

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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