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 25/11/2024 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?

M

Michael
7:49 PM

I used to get a strong to receive all that was available in L37 (Formby) but recently Dave was only received in a pixellated state so today I did a full reset to Factory condition and now I cannot get more than 25 together. I seem to get BBC1 North OK but when I try to manually tune to pick up more channels I get nothing on Channel 32 or 34 for example where I would expect to find BBC 1, BBC2 BBC4 etc plus ITV and other main chanels.
So I went out and bought a replacement (same as previously FVP 5000T) and lo and behold still nothing like all channels that should be available are showing up. Please advise what is going on ?? Playing on a modern 4k smart TV and with decent arial on the . Apart from some pixellation on some channels evrything was fine yesterday.
Incidentally while Liverpool is only 10miles away I have never been able to receive Liverpool TV !!

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Michael's 1 post GB flag

MikeP

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

10:25 PM

Michael:

Firstly please provide a full post code, a partial does not at all.

Secondly, please check all your caqbles and connections, unplugging any coaxial plugs/sockets and refitting. That will clear any corrosion/oxidation from the contacts which ia=s a common cause of the problems you report.

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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag

M

Michael
10:40 PM
Liverpool

Michael: The full post code is L37 1NU. Thanks for the prompt response.
The arial goes through the Humax to the TV and the TV tunes fully so the is clearly coming through the arial OK ! Ive tried a retune both automatically and manually and as I said a brand new Humax still has the same problem !! Nothing on 32 and 34 which carry most of the channels I watch ( nor on the rest of the channels.)
Thanks

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Michael's 1 post GB flag

Michael's: M's Freeview map M's terrain plot M's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage

B

Brian

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

12:10 AM

Michael: BBC A is UHF 50 D3&4 is UHF 59.

Correct information is found at -

Coverage Checker - Detailed View

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Brian's 51 posts IT flag

MikeP

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

10:31 AM

Michael:

Nothing is being tranmitted on 32 or 34!

The channels currently in use are: 50 (BBCA), 59 (D3&4), 54 (BBCB HD), 58 (SDN), 49 (ARQA), 37 (ARQB), 55 (COM7) and 31 (COM8).

You should be using a aerial (or a log-periodic) as there channels outside of the 'normal' groupings and there will be changes later this year or next year that will require a wideband aerial be used.

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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag

P

Peter Whitehead
3:21 PM

Last year's retune resulted in the loss of COM7 at my address in north Blackpool. I recently discovered a friend can receive COM7 in south Blackpool. COM 7 appears to have a narrow angle of effectively cutting Blackpool into haves and have nots. Why?

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Peter Whitehead's 5 posts GB flag

MikeP

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

8:06 PM

Peter :

Please provide a full post code then we will be able to see the predicted coverage at your location.

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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag

P

Peter Whitehead
12:06 PM
Blackpool

Peter : FY3 7JJ

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Peter Whitehead's 5 posts GB flag

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

P

Peter Whitehead
1:51 PM
Blackpool

, recent log periodic installation.

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Peter Whitehead's 5 posts GB flag

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

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

10:16 PM

Peter :

Unfortunately the predicted coverage of COM7 at your location is poor and COM8 will also become poor during Q1 2020 when there are some retune events. You can see this from the Digitaluk coverage checker Coverage Checker - Detailed View

The strange thing is that the mapping shows the whole of Blackpool well within the coverage area of COM7 (& COM8). Whilst I would normally say that this problem is likely to be due to from other transmitters as COMs 7&8 are now/becoming SFNs (single networks) all sharing the same UHF 55 & 56. However looking at the map, I'm currently at a bit of a loss as to which transmitters might be causing that in your location. Further investigation is needed.

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Chris.SE's 4,365 posts GB flag

Page 164

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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