Full Freeview on the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter

Brian Butterworth first published this on 1st May 2004 at 08:20 - UK Free TV

Google Streetview

Google map

Bing map

Google Earth

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 04/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels

Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name

_______

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?

M

Mike Dimmick

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

3:44 PM

steven wallace: At 20km from , with clear line of sight, too much is the most likely explanation. If there is a or , try removing it.

If that doesn't, and this was fitted by an installer, get them to come back and reduce signal levels, or otherwise do what's necessary to sort it out. If it was DIY, try adding an attenuator, and/or swap for a smaller aerial such as a log-periodic type, e.g. Online TV FM DAB Aerial sales .

link to this comment

Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag

Stuart O.

_{sentiment_satisfied}Silver

4:44 PM
Wrexham

Mike Dimmick: Thanks for that info.
I was able to try a 2nd set-top like the one I've got that my parents no longer require and combine both aerials into the and it's giving better results again than just the one aerial!
With one aerial I was getting lines on the pic of Channel 5 from . With the two combined, this has removed that problem.

I did try connecting each aerial into it's own amplifier and then combining but was slighly poorer.

I've also got each aerial mounted onto metal poles that were used for shower curtains and am using terry clips to clamp the poles onto the wooden beams of the trusses so at least they're no longer balancing on top of boxes and look much neater and safer now.

link to this comment

Stuart O.'s 156 posts GB flag

Stuart's: S's Freeview map S's terrain plot S's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Stuart O.

_{sentiment_satisfied}Silver

6:52 PM
Wrexham

Another question I have:
How do you count the elements of a TV ?

When you look at a 14 element aerial and compare it to something like a 32, 44 or 52 element aerial, there only visually looks to be roughly the same amount of elements.

These high aerials that are listed as 32 elements or more usually have elements in a 'X' shape fitted onto the aerial boom.

In this case, would each of these 'X's be counted as 2 elements or even 4 elements?

Would you be able to put up a labelled diagram and explain this please ?

Cheers,
Stuart.

link to this comment

Stuart O.'s 156 posts GB flag

Stuart's: S's Freeview map S's terrain plot S's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage

K

KMJ,Derby

_{sentiment_satisfied}Gold

7:39 PM

Stuart O.: A lot depends on the individual manufacturer. There was a time when an 18 element meant 16 director rods, a dipole and a reflector assembly which could have been a single sheet of metal (as on a contract aerial) or set of two or four rods positioned behind the dipole. Today, a Blake DMX10 has ten X-type directors plus a single rod in front of the dipole and a reflector assembly with eight rods. A Triax Unix52 is a similar aerial but each 'X' director counts four elements and the reflector counts as eight elements, to arrive at the magic "52".

link to this comment

KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag

Z

Zippy
8:45 PM

My digihome box is not picking up any tv guide info and will not record any series link programs as it does not know when to start and stop recording. Anyone know if the has stopped sending the info or is my box heading for the bin.

link to this comment

Zippy's 4 posts GB flag

Z

Zippy
9:20 PM

Sorry I should have put my post code in my last post. However I have used the old unplug it and plug it back in fix and this seems to have cured the problem. I think I will be getting a new box soon.

link to this comment

Zippy's 4 posts GB flag

R

Robert Lee

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

10:11 AM
Buckley

I achieve 100% for both and signal strength when receiving normal (with the exception of which has a current signal strength of 80%).
However, when receiving HD on the quality is only 70% and the signal strength 80%. Is there a technical reason why this should be the case and if so, is this likely to impact on / sound quality?

link to this comment

Robert Lee's 87 posts GB flag

Robert's: R's Freeview map R's terrain plot R's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Briantist

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

8:58 AM

Robert : Unless your and sound stop, the lower reading will have no effect whatsoever on the picture and sound quality.

link to this comment

Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag

A

arthur roe
10:41 AM
High Peak

Trying for Winter Hlll direct no luck.Brother who lives nearby used to have more problems receiving .Now with the `s I am trying to receive with, he has no trouble with antenna stood on garden . Why?

link to this comment

arthur roe's 2 posts GB flag

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

Briantist

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

11:36 AM

arthur roe: You should be using either or , or if you want more , . See Compare Freeview Light and Freesat TV | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice .

You cannot receive a service from .

link to this comment

Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag

Page 13

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.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

UK Free TV is here to help people. If you are rude or disrespectful all of your posts will be deleted and you will be banned.
Your comments
Your name
Your email
Your site or @twitter
Email me updates
Save my details

Privacy policy: UK Free Privacy policy.