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

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

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?

Comments

Saturday, 1 August 2020

_{sentiment_satisfied}Gold

5:04 AM

Chris.SE: is normally BBC B and 545.833 ch30- BBC B.

was left vacant when com8 moved to - hence the massive s/n - nothing else on that here.

I happened upon the tests after reading StevensOnln1's comment regarding Birmingham TV.

My Freeview box has no EPG, is blank on FIVE, ITV3, ITV4, ITV2+1, has no sound o | free and easy

The service tables off The Wrekin BBC B include:

Local
ONID.TSID = 233A.800E
690 MHz, uhf 48, 8 MHz, QPSK, 8k, 3/4, 1/32
Target Regions = (GBR.England. Midlands.Birmingham)
(
LCN SID TYPE SERVICE NAME
007 804E 01 Birmingham TV
048 84C0 01 Sony Channel
050 8500 01 Sony Movies Classic
060 8380 01 Sony Movies +1
094 8540 01 Ideal Extra
207 82C0 01 Tiny Pop
)

The Wrekin is, I think, is the only I have an unobstructed line of sight to - 100km distant!

When I had no lock on ch30- I went to investigate.

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js's 841 posts US flag

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

8:11 AM

js: is the North petal at IIRC
Now I'm puzzling about the "sudden" change in level on & at 0430 (give or take a few seconds)??

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Chris.SE's 4,346 posts GB flag

Sunday, 2 August 2020

_{sentiment_satisfied}Gold

5:41 AM

Chris.SE: The first frame of the actually shows a from 22/07/2020 04:09, when I had lost from -.

I'm not sure, but they may have moved the BBCB to C30, on that occasion, they certainly didn't the next night.

The remainder of the video is from what appears to be a repeat performance on the 23/07/2020 starting at 03:39.

I didn't notice before that is switched off briefly at frame 115, 04:46.

Then, at frame 124, 04:30, the tests on C29 and are switched off.

At frame 132, 04:33, both tests and have been switched off.

ARQA on disappears briefly at frame 311, 05:49

The old BBCA on is back at frame 315, 05:50.

I was puzzled by Birmingham TV on as thought it emanated from , on .

But who can trust what the NIT says these days. According to the NIT, all three petals of the local multiplexes off are still on !

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js's 841 posts DE flag

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

6:15 AM

Dave Mann:

Did you see my reply to you on p201?

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Chris.SE's 4,346 posts GB flag

Tuesday, 4 August 2020

_{sentiment_satisfied}Gold

5:22 AM

Chris.SE:
Well, thanks for that, Chris! Ignorant as I am, I wasn't aware that local multiplexes might be transmitted from relays.

For some reason, I didn't see the transmissions. I to your superior knoledge of the .

After looking around a bit, I discovered that relays have relays that have relays!

But back to , and the service tables off it's frequencies.

The Wrekin doesn't have a parent but it's service tables belong to Sutton Coldfield.

Makes no sense to me.

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js's 841 posts RO flag

_{sentiment_satisfied}Gold

6:27 AM

Chris.SE: Another curiosity is the presence in the NIT of two BBC A multiplexes with the same target regions:

BBC A
ONID.TSID = 233A.1045
650 MHz, uhf 43, 8 MHz, 64-QAM, 8k, 2/3, 1/32
Target Regions = (GBR.England. Midlands)
(
LCN SERVICE NAME
001 BBC ONE W Mid
002 BBC TWO
009 BBC FOUR
201 CBBC
202 CBeebies
231 BBC NEWS
232 BBC Parliament
250 BBC Red Button
601 BBC RB 1
700 BBC Radio 1
701 BBC R1X
702 BBC Radio 2
703 BBC Radio 3
704 BBC Radio 4
705 BBC R5L
706 BBC R5SX
707 BBC 6 Music
708 BBC Radio 4 Ex
709 BBC Asian Net.
710 Sv.
719 BBC CWR
720 BBC H&W
722 BBC WM
726 BBC Stoke
735 BBC
)

BBC A
ONID.TSID = 233A.1053
514 MHz, uhf 26, 8 MHz, 64-QAM, 8k, 2/3, 1/32
Target Regions = (GBR.England.West Midlands)
(
LCN SERVICE NAME
001 BBC ONE W Mid
002 BBC TWO
009 BBC FOUR
201 CBBC
202 CBeebies
231 BBC NEWS
232 BBC Parliament
250 BBC Red Button
601 BBC RB 1
700 BBC Radio 1
701 BBC R1X
702 BBC Radio 2
703 BBC Radio 3
704 BBC Radio 4
705 BBC R5L
706 BBC R5SX
707 BBC 6 Music
708 BBC Radio 4 Ex
709 BBC Asian Net.
710 BBC World Sv.
719 BBC CWR
720 BBC H&W
721 BBC Shropshire
722 BBC WM
726 BBC Stoke
)

They are, presumably, mutually exclusive?

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js's 841 posts SE flag

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

4:32 PM

js:

What did I say? >> I bow to your superior knowledge of the network. (typo corrected ;) )
I certainly wouldn't agree, i think your knowledge of the network is probably far greater, just because each of us may miss things from time to time doesn't mean that either of us has greater knowledge in a particular area.

Those target regions in the NITs must be quite generalised? maybe based on regional news allocations to particular transmitters? but your overall knowledge of NITs must be far greater than mine which is virtually non-existent. Btw, you must be in a good spot to be able to pick up all these transmitters.

As for relays of relays, yes there appear to be some! (and some incorrectly listed as such in some places!!) but as for Brierley Hill I didn't realise it had a Local mux with Birmingham TV until this morning (not from your post co-incidentally but another one). Haslington BBCB is due to move from C29 to C30 on the 12th (along with Ladder Hill) (I've only been looking at some of DUK's pdfs by the way, nothing to do with knowledge!).

The apparent lack of logic (best way to describe it?) with these NITs might explain some of the oddities. I recall a few people mentioning some of the Yorkshire retunes when On-screen message popped up to retune when the specific transmitter they were receiving wasn't changing. I'd assumed it was just some sloppiness by Arqiva, but it could well have been NIT related.

Slight change of topic, I've not got, or been able to find a list of Tx TSIDs. Any idea where one might find one?

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Chris.SE's 4,346 posts GB flag

Wednesday, 5 August 2020

_{sentiment_satisfied}Gold

7:02 AM

Chris.SE: Well, thanks for the compliment Chris, but I don't deserve it. And thanks for correcting the typo:

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

I noticed it as soon as I had posted, but we can't edit our posts.

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js's 841 posts GB flag

_{sentiment_satisfied}Gold

7:17 AM

Chris.SE: Yes, I'm probably going to lose both ch 29 BBC B and ch 30- BBC B on 12th August.

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js's 841 posts GB flag

_{sentiment_satisfied}Gold

7:40 AM

Chris.SE: Regarding Transport Stream IDs or TSIDs:

I'm not aware of any official list of TSIDs but the tables off com7 and 8 have SDT and EPG for what seems to be every UK .

Unfortunately, because they are not in the NIT, there are no Target Regions, frequencies, or LCNs for the on them, so the problem is to discover the transmitters that carry them.

There has never been any data for T2 multiplexes anyway, so no loss there.

Only the PSBs have Target Regions other than GBR.

The BBC ONE service names give the for BBC A multiplexes.

For D3&4, the EPG data gives the regional ITV local news.

For BBC B, where currently BBC ONE HD is not regionalised, the region is indicated, though perhaps not uniquely, by the ITV HD local news.

This is Com7 National pf.xls (663KB) - the now/next off com7 showing the ITV local news regions:

Free large file hosting. Send big files the easy way!

This list is from around the time when Com78 National first appeared:

Com78 National 15-01-2018 21 07.txt - Pastebin.com

This is the current list:

Com7 National 29-07-2020 20 44.txt - Pastebin.com

The old list is useful for identifying Local Multiplexes which now have no indication of region or city, for example:

Local Multiplex
ONID.TSID = 233A.800B
(
LCN SID TYPE SERVICE NAME
--- 804B 01 That's TV
--- 82C0 01 Tiny Pop
--- 8380 01 Sony Movies +1
--- 84C0 01 Sony Channel
--- 8500 01 Sony Movies Classic
--- 8540 01 Ideal Extra
)

Local Multiplex
ONID.TSID = 233A.800B
(
LCN SID TYPE SERVICE NAME
--- 804B 01 That's Manchester
--- 8100 01 The Vault
--- 8200 01 POP Max
--- 8240 01 True Crime
--- 8280 01 True Movies
--- 82C0 01 Tiny Pop
--- 8380 01 Sony Movie Channel+1
)

That's the best I can offer you.

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js's 841 posts GB flag

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