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

first published this on - UK Free TV
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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
Friday, 21 February 2020
D
David Ashworth
12:47 PM
Chorley

PR7 1PT.

PROBLEM: Approx 10 year old SONY BRAVIA LCD TV : Model: KDL 40EX 403. Specifically built to accomodate the changeover period from Analog to Digital TV, avoiding the need for a Digibox. It has an Analog/Digital choice button on the remote, but NOT on the TV itself. The instruction Manual has a section: Watching TV. This tells me 1. To turn on the TV. 2. To select a mode (Analog or Digital). NOTE this was set to DIGITAL from Day 1 and never altered. 3 Select a Channel either using the programme rocker switch, or if preferred when using digital, press guide and select.

Following yesterday's Freeview Changes, I did a digital auto-retune, in the course of which I could clearly see the digital channels being found. It informed me that the retune was complete, and asked for confirmation, for which I pressed the button for on the remote. I pressed Back/Return to go back to the horizontal menu, and went across to Digital. Below the Digital Symbol was the Guide signal. I clicked on guide, and it told me it had no information stored!!

It transpired that the TV Set had reverted to Analog Mode and this was confirmed when the i-Manual button on the remote was pressed. Having pressed the Analog/Digital selection button to NO effect, I switched the TV off, unplugged it from the Mains Electricity, waited 2 minutes, and re-started the TV. I got a fuzzy screen and a Sh-ing noise - clearly Analog. I tried the Mode button to change to Digital, but it did not work. The green on-light on the TV flashed 15 times before it ceased to flash, but the TV remains in Analog mode!!!

Anyone know what this is all about? The Set has worked perfectly for 10 years. I have a lady friend who lives in Bolton. She has a Panasonic TV of a similar vintage. Her TV has done the same thing and is now stuck in analog!

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David's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
js
sentiment_satisfiedGold

2:54 PM

David Ashworth: Is it not possible to carry out a retune?

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js's 822 posts GB flag
M
Mr R. Tyson
3:33 PM

Hi,
At 14:00 on 20 Feb retuned TV as advised by News program. Now no BBC channels. All freeview channels working but BBC channels breaking up and unusable.
TV has been auto tuned, manually tuned, reset to manufacturers specs, auto tuned without aerial to clear the memories and...... still no BBC channels and everything else working.
What have the BBC done to break the system ? I suppose it helps to decide if I will get a TV licence or not at renewal time.

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Mr R. Tyson's 5 posts GB flag
J
js
sentiment_satisfiedGold

4:19 PM

Mr R. Tyson: You might need a new aerial. See Important changes to Freeview | Freeview

You should find the original channels in your channel list on these numbers:

751 BBC ONE N West
752 BBC TWO
755 BBC FOUR
756 CBBC
757 CBeebies
758 BBC NEWS
759 BBC Parliament
760 BBC Red Button
761 BBC RB 1
762 BBC Radio 1
763 BBC R1X
764 BBC Radio 2
765 BBC Radio 3
766 BBC Radio 4
767 BBC R5L
768 BBC R5SX
769 BBC 6 Music
770 BBC Radio 4 Ex
771 BBC Asian Net.
772 BBC World Sv.
773 BBC Manchester
774 BBC Lancashire
775 BBC Cumbria
776 BBC Merseyside
777 BBC Stoke


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C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:07 PM

David Ashworth:

I don't know if there's anything here that may help, I haven't read it.
Questions and Answers about

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:47 PM

Mr R. Tyson:

The BBC has done nothing to "break the system" . If you want to understand what all the changes are about see
What is 700MHz clearance? | Freeview
The BBC have some information for Winter Hill as well - Problems with Freeview reception? | Help receiving TV and radio
Click on "Engineering work affecting television services in the North West of England on the 19th and 20th February" for explanatory detail.
As js has already said visit Important changes to Freeview | Freeview for information about the free help.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Saturday, 22 February 2020
J
js
sentiment_satisfiedGold

12:48 AM

Chris.SE: Absolutely. BBC: Not guilty.

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js's 822 posts NL flag
D
David Parr
4:20 PM

I lost BBC1 & 2 on Thursday 20th February 20 because I had an old narrowband aerial from the analogue days which just happens to be totally "blind" on channel 32, the BBC A mux. I fitted a new wideband aerial today and problem is 100% fixed.

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David Parr's 2 posts GB flag
Sunday, 23 February 2020
N
nedbod
2:17 PM

How much does a Group A aerial cost ?

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nedbod's 1 post GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:09 PM

nedbod:

That will depend on what type of aerial you need, whether it has to be high gain, very directional, low gain, medium gain etc. and whether it's going to mounted externally or in a loft.
Without a full postcode we can't advise what is more likely as the distance from the transmitters and predicted reception at your location will be the determining factors.

There are some very cheap aerials around (nick named baco-foil aerials as they are flimsy - but some sellers charge over the top for them - they may do in a loft installation, but externally are easily damaged) and very high gain aerials will tend to be more expensive.

If you are in need of a group A aerial because of the recent changes AND you won't be able to get COMs 7&8 at your location, ok. But otherwise you should have a group T, maybe an amplified Log-Periodic if you need more gain, sometimes a Group K may suffice.
Prices could vary from just under 10 to over 60 depending on quality and who you buy from - that's just the aerial - not clamps, masts, mounting kits, cable, installation, etc.

However, if you need a replacement aerial because of the changes and don't have Cable or Satellite, don't use a Landlord's aerial or a Communal one, then you can get free help from Freeview, ring 0808-100-0288
see Important changes to Freeview | Freeview but they are advising there could be long waits on the phone (it's free) because of current demand 26 Feb 2020 - Wait times for viewers calling the Freeview Advice Line | Freeview

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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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