menuMENU    UK Free TV logo Freeview

 

 

Click to see updates

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, 2 June 2016
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

12:09 AM

WINTER HILL transmitter - Possible weak signal [DUK]

link to this comment
Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
J
James Finlan
10:23 AM
Manchester

Currently having major issues with C54, all the main HD feeds are badly distorted despite showing 100% signal quality and 100% signal strength. I have been trying to rule out local interference without success, CBeebies HD is just fine as are all the other HD channels on C31.Moy postcode is M43 6FH, ariel is on the roof on a decent pole. Signal strength is showing as 90% or more across all channels.Any advice or assistance would be most welcome.ThanksJames

link to this comment
James Finlan's 3 posts US flag
James's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:10 PM

James Finlan:

Your post reveals the cause of your problems. 100% signal strength is too strong -especially for HD reception. Ideally you should aim for between 60 and 80% strength but as near 100% quality as is possible.

According to the data shown in the blue boxes below your posting, you should have a very strong signal - which may be too strong for good H|D reception. Search this website for 'too much of a good thing' and try what is suggested there.



link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
J
James Finlan
11:52 PM

MikeP:Really appreciate the signpost, it does look like a need an attenuator of some sort, looking on Amazon I can find lots of different types and of varying strengths from 2db up to 9db, sadly I am out of my depth on this and have no idea which I need so it best to just play it safe and buy a variable unit?CheersJames

link to this comment
James Finlan's 3 posts US flag
Friday, 3 June 2016
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:21 PM

James Finlan:

I would suggest getting two, one rated at 3 dB and the other rated at 6 dB. Get the coaxial ones as they can be connected into your aerial cable very easily and can even be connected in series (one after the other). So when you get them, try putting the 3 dB attenuator in the lead first, but do not let it 'hang' on the aerial sockets, it's best to get a short aerial flylead whilst ordering the attenuators, flyleads are quite inexpensive. So you should end up with a flylead from the wall socket (if you have one), then the attenuator laying on the floor followed by the existing flylead going into the TV set aerial socket. (The reason for that is that aerial sockets are not very strong and can be distorted by the weight of an attenuator.) If the signal problems persist and the strength is still too high, swap the 3 dB attenuator for the 6 dB one. If that solve s the problems then you've won. If, however, there are still some problems you can add the two attenuators in series giving 9 dB attenuation. Hopefully that will bring your signal strength into the range acceptable to your tuner. If needs be, you can swap the attenuators for a 12 dB type to give even more reduction, but don't reduce it too much as that can then start affecting the channels that have been OK up until now.

In my experience from working in the domestic TV servicing industry until retirement, the variable types are often suspect quality.

Hope that helps?



link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
J
James Finlan
5:52 PM

MikeP :That is more advice than I could of hoped for and it is very much appreciated, I shall follow exactly as you described and post a little update when I have an outcome.Thanks again and have a lovely weekend!

link to this comment
James Finlan's 3 posts US flag
Saturday, 4 June 2016
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:12 PM

James Finlan:

Thanks for the kind words and you have a great weekend to.



link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Friday, 10 June 2016
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

12:09 AM

WINTER HILL transmitter - Possible weak signal [DUK]

link to this comment
Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Saturday, 18 June 2016
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

12:09 AM

WINTER HILL transmitter - Possible weak signal [DUK]

link to this comment
Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Sunday, 26 June 2016
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

12:09 AM

WINTER HILL transmitter - Possible weak signal [DUK]

link to this comment
Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Select more comments

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.

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.








Privacy policy: UK Free Privacy policy.