Full Freeview on the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter
 | 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 
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Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
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 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 | |||||
| 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-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 | ITVwaves | ||||||||
| C12 | BBCtvwaves | ||||||||
| C24 | _local | ||||||||
| C29 | SDN | ||||||||
| C31 | com7 | com7 | |||||||
| C32 | BBCA | ||||||||
| C34 | D3+4 | ||||||||
| C35 | BBCB | ||||||||
| C37 | com8 | com8 | |||||||
| C40 | LOCAL2 | ||||||||
| C48 | C5waves | C5waves | |||||||
| C49tv_off | ArqA | ArqA | |||||||
| C50tv_off | BBCA | BBCA | |||||||
| C54tv_off | -BBCB | -BBCB | -BBCB | ||||||
| C55tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | ArqB | ArqB | ArqB | com7tv_off | ||
| C56tv_off | _local | _local | _local | LPR | |||||
| C57tv_off | GIM | GIM | GIM | GIM | |||||
| C58tv_off | SDN | SDN | SDN | ||||||
| C59tv_off | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | |||
| C61 | ArqA | ||||||||
| C62 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | |||||
| C65 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves |
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 GranadaWhich companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Winter Hill transmitter area
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Monday, 29 June 2020
C
Chris.SE2:30 PM
Bob:
I can't see any faults reported by the BBC or Freeview and Winter Hill isn't listed for Planned Engineering.
Apart from retuning, have you changed anything at all in your instillation, even just moving leads?
Can you provide your full postcode so that we can look at your predicted reception?
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B
Bob3:11 PM
Blackpool
My postcode is FY1 2RP. Nothing has changed at my end - both equipment systems are the same as before the re-tune, and both aerials are recent, one only a few months old. The Freeview "detailed coverage" page with all the technical charts shows COM7 and COM8 shaded orange for my postcode, with numerals 18/99 - which I suppose shows that reception may be poor. But the simple fact is that a week ago I could receive all these missing 20 channels and now I can't - which suggests that something external has changed. I do realise that a few have permanently shut down.
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Bob's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 30 June 2020
C
Chris.SE12:06 AM
Bob:
The orange indicates it's what's called "marginal" reception. It's only the COM8 multiplex closing (UHF channel 56) and most of the Channels have moved to COM7, some have closed, see 22 Jun 2020 - Important channel broadcast changes | Freeview
Reception can be affected by the weather as I'm sure you appreciate, there has been some Tropospheric Ducting around (see Effect of tropospheric ducting on Freeview | RTIS ) but that should have largely gone for now. You may have to repeat retune a few times to get COM7 back when signals are better. The figures suggest that you could have no signal some of the time, but not all the time. There's been no transmitter changes that should affect the COM7 signal. Do check that your aerials haven't moved in the recent wind, they should be pointing at bearing 123 degrees a few degrees E of SE.
I'd suggest try retuning as follows, unplug the aerial and carry out an automatic tune which should clear memory of previous tuning as no channels will be found (not sure if that works on the Humax), plug the aerial back in and repeat the retune which will hopefully restore all multiplexes. You may need to reset any scheduled recordings.
Are you getting the Local Preston multiplex on UHF C40?
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L
Les9:26 AM
Older TV and have to manual tune to Winter Hill due to HTV interfering and I note that some of the frequency numbers listed have no signal
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C
Chris.SE1:10 PM
Les:
As per several posts on these transmitter pages and elsewhere on the site, the site owner has not had the time to keep up with all the changes due to the 700MHz clearance, though some updates for final clearance have been applied too early.
The current channel usage of specific UHF channels for Winter Hill for each of the multiplexes in the order listed as follows -
PSB1/BBCA, PSB2/D3&4, PSB3/BBCB HD, COMs 4-6, COM7, Local G-MAN, Local L-MAN, Local L-LIV
UHF channels C32, C59, C54, C58, C49, C37, C55, C57, C24, C21
You will also undoubtedly have PSB1/BBCA simulcasting on UHF C50 with the programmes at LCN751 et seq. in your EPG, this is so that those with older Group C/D aerials that can't get the BBC SD channels in their normal LCNs from UHF C32 have time to get free In Home support for a new aerial from Freeview - but that had been suspended at present because of the Covid-19 situation as have the the remaining 700MHZ clearance retune events.
For anyone in that situation, I don't know if they are putting affected people on a waiting list, you can try ringing them on 0808-100-0288
The final channels after the final retune date tba, are -
For PSBs1-3 & COMs 4-7, UHF Channels 32, 34, 35, 29, 31, 37, 55
& for Local muxes G-MAN, L-LIV, L-MAN, L-PTN, UHF Channels 27, 21, 24, 40.
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Wednesday, 1 July 2020
P
Peter Whitehead8:27 AM
I too, as Bob of Blackpool, have lost a number of channels due to the closure of COM 8. The one I miss most is BBC4HD. COM 7 from Winter Hill is almost impossible to receive in Blackpool (Fylde coast population ~200,000) due to the narrow angle output of COM 7. (COM 8 was tricky but OK with a good aerial). The Liverpool local station is easily received! My postcode prediction shows that Moel-y-Parc COM 7 should give a good signal.
I am loath to install an aerial for Moel as the continued mucking about with channels may render that obsolete at the flick of a switch. There are rumours that BBC4 is destined to be on-line only. Perhaps the mux change is a fiendish plot to justify closure. What am I paying my licence fee for?
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C
Chris.SE1:53 PM
Peter Whitehead:
Apologies, the system seems to have produced a blank post a short while ago!
The mux change is no conspiracy theory, read some facts in this post-
Rebuilding Freeview High Definition from 2019 onwards | free and easy
I believe the BBC are having some sort of review about BBC4, haven't been to check for myself yet, but that is down to the BBC.
There is a notch in the radiation pattern for COM7 shown on the radiation pattern towards the top of the page, but it does not cover Blackpool. Go to the map at the top of the page, make sure Pro-mode is on, then click on HD-com7 (h) top LHS of the map and it shows the radiation pattern. I would think the notch is there to minimise interference with transmitters the other side of the Irish sea!
I would be extremely surprised if you got a better signal for COM7 from Moel-y-Parc, it's 71km away compared to 40km for Winter Hill, is only 14.6kW compared to 22.9kW for Winter Hill, and the predicted signal strength is less than half that for Winter Hill at your postcode (and that applies to all muxes from Moel-y-Parc). HOWEVER it will depend on local terrain and where you are in your postcode. Neither the Freeview Predictor nor the BBC one predicts any reception from Moel-y-Parc for parts of your postcode - I'll post some more information shortly.
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C
Chris.SE3:20 PM
Peter Whitehead:
I don't see any terrain issues locally for your postcode, certainly for Winter Hill. The nearer the roundabout you are (the nearer the coast) is where the predicted reception for Moel-y-Parc improves, possibly due to terrain further afield, may nearer the Moel-y-Parc transmitter. But that aside, based on figures I've looked at, I don't personally believe the difference in the predictions if you are near a better location would warrant even bothering with Moel-y-Parc (never mind the technical implications of more than one aerial). A good aerial installation for Winter Hill should get you COM7 for most of the time.
That leads me to two things, one in response to your posts back in February 2019, that was mobile phone masts. You are surrounded by them, most are 1km or less away from you. Did you contact at800 for a filter? If you got one was it the better Ch.60 one, or the cheaper/poorer Ch.59 one which may cause some attenuation of C55/56 signals? Whichever, if you have either, try removing it from circuit BUT in your TV tuning section check the % signal and quality of all multiplexes before and after and note any differences - this information might be important, and of course can you now get COM7. Post those figures even if you haven't got a filter.
The second thing, about your installation in general.
First, not sure why I didn't pick up on this, you mentioned a recent log periodic aerial. As you are nearly 41km from the transmitter, I wouldn't have considered one as a first choice but especially for reception of COMs 7&8. As you know they are transmitted at much lower power than the main multiplexes, and the response of a log periodic is almost flat across the bandwidth, even a log40 (no longer available IIRC) doesn't have sufficient extra gain at C55/56, even the log36 gain falls off too quickly. A Group T/Wideband, maybe something like a good quality Yagi18WB would probably have been the thing to go for (although here are more complex WB aerials that would give similar/better gain). I know that as soon as COM7 moved to C55 and you lost reception, I would have been on to the aerial installer to ask why they'd installed an aerial that couldn't reliably receive COM7 (&COM8 when it moved up to C56 - that bit now irrelevant).
Second, does your aerial connect directly to the TV, or do you have any booster/splitter? If so, does the booster have a gain control?
Third, if you have other equipment, do you have HDMI leads in use? If so make sure that they are well away from any aerial leads or flyleads, especially if the aerial and flyleads are not quality double screened types. In fact, as a check if you have them, unplug/remove them, turn off other equipment a connect the aerial direct to the TV not via any other equipment. HDMI has been reported to cause interference to the C55 (COM7) frequency in a number of cases. Can you now get COM7?
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C
Chris.SE3:25 PM
Les:
I omitted to list the current UHF channel for the Preston Local multiplex from my previous reply to you, it's the same as the final allocation on C40.
I should have mentioned that the local multiplexes are beamed in specific directions, so which you can receive (if any) and COM7, will depend upon your location.
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