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 18/11/2024 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?

D

Dave
10:19 AM

Sorry Chris, didn't see.your comment before posting. I hadn't realised that COM7 was on the same across the UK. I'll keep my fingers crossed that it clears itself up in the next couple of days.

Thanks

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Dave's 4 posts GB flag

G

Graham
10:09 PM

I'm in Chester (CH3). Same problem lost all com 7 CH55 stations sometime Fri on all devices. Hard to believe in this day & age that atmospherics can cause such annihilation. As Dave says let's it clears up in few days.
Can't understand why no official comment from saying reason or have I missed it.......many people will be thinking it's their equipment, aerials etc & could go to unnecessary expense.

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Graham's 2 posts GB flag

G

Graham
9:58 PM

Com7 CH55 has returned here in Chester!! Just done manual retune for CH55......hey presto 14 reappeared . Was still nothing there when tried at 6pm, so has atmospherics changed since then?
this is the case for everyone else who's posted on this subject.

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Graham's 2 posts GB flag

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

12:18 AM

Graham:

As per previous posts here it's "Tropospheric Ducting" around causing , see Effect of tropospheric ducting on Freeview | RTIS for a simplistic explanation. It can be quite variable, come and go within seconds, minutes or hours. It has been particularly strong recently which can as you've discovered wipe out your . Climate change is likely to mean these sort of events could be more common.
Currently it may continue on and off for a day or two more.

It's best not to retune if you have or badly pixellated signals as this can just clear correct tuning and you have to repeat the retune when conditions stabilise.

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Chris.SE's 4,365 posts GB flag

K

Karl
7:36 AM

Can confirm CH55 back at normal levels here on the Fylde coast.

Was this posted here or elsewhere? Useful.

Tropospheric Ducting Forecast for VHF & UHF Radio & TV

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Karl's 20 posts GB flag

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

9:23 AM

Karl:

I have posted it in the past, but a lot of non-tech people just find it too confusing so I stick to just explaining the situation. There is another if you are interested Europe | Tropospheric Propagation Forecast

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Chris.SE's 4,365 posts GB flag

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

7:46 AM

All:

Just to repeat as it's now several pages back -
UHF after the recent 700 MHz clearance are -
The main multiplexes are , , , , , , for PSBs1-3, COMs 4-7.
The Local ones are Local Manchester, Manchester GI on & .
Liverpool Local mux on , Local mux on .

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Chris.SE's 4,365 posts GB flag

A

Anthony

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

4:18 PM

I've had a brand new Labgear triple element aerial installed and is excellent on all the . Channel 55 MUX is just slightly less at 50% signal strength and 100% signal but is adequate for the DVB-T2 tuner on my LG / HD tv and pick up without problems. Channel is always slightly trickier to get right due to the slightly lower signal level transmitted on this MUX but it is being received at the very least.

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Anthony's 52 posts GB flag

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

10:18 PM

Anthony:

The COM7 mux () is transmitted as an SFN (Single ) so signals from other transmitters with COM7 can create locations which can have less than others. Having 100% is the most important thing and based on my own experience you should be fine with ~50% strength although depending on location you may find it varies with some weather conditions. If there's Tropospheric Ducting, that might cause larger variations and in worst case - loss of quality (and/or signal). Other multiplexes may/may not be affected at the same time.

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Chris.SE's 4,365 posts GB flag

J

John Owen
7:51 PM

I live in Greasby, Wirral, Merseyside.

For quite a while now, (months), I have been unable to tune back on my TV to the .
What I do in order to get the normal list of programmes is the following: -

Turn TV on
Take out aeriel co-axial
Auto tune the ~(in order to clear the TV of all channels)
Plug aeriel back in
Auto tune the channels - the result is that I get Winter Hill with BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV3, Chanel 4 and Channel 5 in the normal sequence as I did until months ago.
This seem good enough. I turn the TV off when no longer required.
When I turn the TV back on, all channels are all over the place with many being Welsh channels.
Channel 1 is BBC 1, that OK. 2 & 3 are showing BBC2 and and 5 are lost.

There is nothing wrong with my position.

Please can you advise me what to do?

Many thanks,

John
07981-639-336

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John Owen's 1 post GB flag

Page 195

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