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 11/11/2024 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?

K

KMJ,Derby

_{sentiment_satisfied}Gold

1:42 PM

Gary: The main purpose of COM7 is to encourage viewers to equip themselves with receivers that support DVB-T2 transmissions and aerials that are capable of picking up signals in the to range. This is in readiness for a proposed change for the COM muxes to adopt DVB-T2 working on , , and from most/all full sites , starting possibly in 2018. PSB1 and PSB2 would, subject to approval, also adopt DVB-T2 in the near future, this being subject to enough people having DVB-T2 equipment. The PSB transmissions currently using to would change frequency to enable more spectrum to be sold off for 4G/ mobile usage.

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KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag

A

Anthony

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

11:53 AM
Accrington

My from has gone down!!! Is this unscheduled unexpected work due to weather damage or or some other reason? Getting NO TV at all for some reason now.

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Anthony's 70 posts GB flag

Anthony's: A's Freeview map A's terrain plot A's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage

A

Anthony

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

11:54 AM
Accrington

I am getting from 2 church street accrington BB5 2EH despite the saying I cannot.

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Anthony's 70 posts GB flag

Anthony's: A's Freeview map A's terrain plot A's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage

M

Michael Rhodes
5:39 PM

I'm just wondering why COM7 from is so RUBBISH in Southport is it due to reduced ( 14KW compared to 100KW on other multiplexes ) or is it just bad design for 31 ?
Mike

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Michael Rhodes's 8 posts GB flag

Dave Lindsay

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

5:52 PM

Michael Rhodes: Go to the map above and click "HD-com7 (h)" and you will see that there is a null in the direction of Southport and Formby down to just north of Crosby. I'm not sure why that might be as there appear to be no other transmitters in that direction on .

I suggest that it is either because of possible with , or (more likely) the array has a null in it. The antennas used by the 30 transmitters which carry COM7 are ones that were already in existance from pre-, this being to keep the costs of COM7 and COM8 down. I seem to recall that one of the experts on here said that 's COM7/8 antenna array was previously used in - perhaps the null from Winter Hill faces the least population so that the null affects the least number of people. If you're lucky you might be able to receive COM 7 (and 8 when it comes on air) from Moel-y-Parc - a diplexer will allow you to combine two aerials and watch all programmes from Winter Hill plus MyP's COM7 and COM8 on 32 and 34 respectively.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag

P

Paul Hunter
6:34 PM
Ormskirk

Does anyone know why there is a recommended RETUNE for on 3rd September? Could it be anything to do with the poor COM7 in the Southport area? I've just lost the three BBC HD COM7 (BBC News HD, BBC4 HD and CBeebiesHD) and not sure yet why - but could be my has moved in the recent winds.

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Paul Hunter's 12 posts EU flag

Paul's: P's Freeview map P's terrain plot P's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage

J

Jim

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

9:05 PM

Paul Hunter:
It's nothing to do with any problems.
It's a national retune to take into account a change of some EPG channel numbers. As an example, the news that currently start at 80 will move to 130 upwards.

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Jim's 28 posts GB flag

P

Paul Hunter
12:44 PM
Ormskirk

I live close to the poor Southport area for COM 7 from . I used to be able to receive the COM 7 hd channel with an old , but it moved in the wind and now I have lost the COM7 HD . What type of aerial should I buy as a replacement to ensure I can get the missing channels back?

Thanks

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Paul Hunter's 12 posts EU flag

Paul's: P's Freeview map P's terrain plot P's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage

M

mazbar

_{sentiment_satisfied}Gold

12:49 PM

Paul Hunter: there are very few areas in ormskirk that carn't get all other than ruff lane and some parts of tower hill area. The rest is ok I should know as I have been fitting aerials for over 26 years in ormskirk . If you want the fitted properly give me a call my number is 558169 if you are in ormskirk.

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mazbar's 384 posts GB flag

M

mazbar

_{sentiment_satisfied}Gold

12:54 PM

After looking where you live madwsley isn't the greatest area for I thought you where near ormskirk still give me a call just put 01695 in front of the number.

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mazbar's 384 posts GB flag

Page 102

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