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

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps53.625,-2.516 or 53°37'30"N 2°30'56"Wsa_postcodeBL6 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 25/03/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels Digital tick


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.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C32 (562.0MHz)726mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
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)726mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
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),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C35- (585.8MHz)726mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
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)726mDTG-8100,000W
Channel icons
20 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H max
C31 (554.0MHz)726mDTG-8100,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H max
C37 (602.0MHz)726mDTG-8100,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others

LM
 H -20dB
C40 (626.0MHz)572mDTG-121,000W
Channel icons
from 1st October 2014: 7 That's Manchester,

LL
 H -17dB
C24 (498.0MHz)572mDTG-122,000W
Channel icons
from 30th June 2014: 7 Bay TV Liverpool,

LPR
 H -20dB
C56 (754.0MHz)572mDTG-121,000W
Channel icons
from 1st October 2014: 7 That's Lancashire,

GIM
 H -20dB
C57 (762.0MHz)572mDTG-21,000W
Channel icons
 Now 90s,  Spotlight TV,  Clubland TV,  Country Music Entertainment ,  Classic Hits MCR, 76 That's TV 2 MCR, 77 That's 60s MCR, 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?

regional news image
BBC North West Tonight 3.1m homes 11.8%
from Salford M50 2QH, 22km southeast (140°)
to BBC North West region - 92 masts.
regional news image
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?

1956-80s1984-971997-981998-20092009-132013-182013-1720 Feb 2020
VHFC/D EC/D EC/D EC/D EC/D E TW TW T
C9ITVwaves
C12BBCtvwaves
C24_local
C29SDN
C31com7com7
C32BBCA
C34D3+4
C35BBCB
C37com8com8
C40LOCAL2
C48C5wavesC5waves
C49tv_off ArqAArqA
C50tv_off BBCABBCA
C54tv_off-BBCB-BBCB-BBCB
C55tv_offBBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesArqBArqBArqBcom7tv_off
C56tv_off_local_local_localLPR
C57tv_offGIMGIMGIMGIM
C58tv_offSDNSDNSDN
C59tv_offITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesD3+4D3+4D3+4
C61ArqA
C62BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCA
C65C4wavesC4wavesC4waves

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

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Winter Hill transmitter area

May 1956-Jul 1968Granada Television†
May 1956-Jul 1968Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Feb 2004Granada Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014ITV plc
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV Daybreak•
• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only.

Comments
Thursday, 16 June 2011
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:44 PM

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

If that doesn't help, and this aerial 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_satisfiedSilver

4:44 PM
Wrexham

Mike Dimmick: Thanks for that info.
I was able to try a 2nd set-top aerial like the one I've got that my parents no longer require and combine both aerials into the amplifier 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 Lichfield. With the two combined, this has removed that problem.

I did try connecting each aerial into it's own amplifier and then combining but picture 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 roof trusses so at least they're no longer balancing on top of boxes and look much neater and safer now.

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Stuart O.'s 156 posts GB flag
Stuart's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Sunday, 19 June 2011
Stuart O.
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

6:52 PM
Wrexham

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

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 gain 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 picture diagram and explain this please Briantist?

Cheers,
Stuart.

link to this comment
Stuart O.'s 156 posts GB flag
Stuart's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

7:39 PM

Stuart O.: A lot depends on the individual manufacturer. There was a time when an 18 element aerial 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".

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KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
Sunday, 26 June 2011
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 transmitter 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
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
R
Robert Lee
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

10:11 AM
Buckley

I achieve 100% for both quality and signal strength when receiving normal freeview channels (with the exception of C55 which has a current signal strength of 80%).
However, when receiving HD on C54 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 picture / sound quality?

link to this comment
Robert Lee's 87 posts GB flag
Robert's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 22 July 2011
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

8:58 AM

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

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Friday, 29 July 2011
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 Winter Hill.Now with the antenna`s I am trying to receive with, he has no trouble with antenna stood on garden wall. Why?

link to this comment
arthur roe's 2 posts GB flag
arthur's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

11:36 AM

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

You cannot receive a Freeview service from Winter Hill.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
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Your comment please
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.

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