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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Saturday, 7 November 2020
S
StevensOnln111:50 PM
John Owen: That sounds like your TV is retuning automatically and picking up a Welsh transmitter first (or with a stronger signal). Have a look in the menu and see if there is an option to disable automatic retunes. Also, posting your phone number on a public forum is never a good idea.
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Sunday, 8 November 2020
C
Chris.SE1:40 AM
John Owen:
For the up-to-date list of UHF channels at Winter Hill see Winter Hill (Bolton, England) Full Freeview transmitter | free and easy
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Thursday, 26 November 2020
D
Desmond Hatton10:55 PM
I get channel 12 and channel 33 on 3 televisions but my JVC
Has low signal strength tried returning but still the same
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Friday, 27 November 2020
C
Chris.SE3:08 AM
Desmond Hatton:
Those two channels are on different multiplexes so it's not necessarily a problem with a multiplex, see Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview for which channels are on which multiplex.
I assume that you have some sort of splitter to feed 3 televisions, is it an splitter/amplifier?
Your problem suggests several possibilities -
1) Check all connections between the splitter and the set including any flyleads
2) The signal output where the JVC is being used is not as strong, try the JVC in one of the other locations.
If that's no different -
3) The signal your aerial is receiving may not be very strong/is marginal - a full postcode would be needed to look at your predicted reception - and the JVC is not as sensitive as the others
If the JVC gets the signals in one of the other locations -
4) The splitter is not giving a good a signal on the normal JVC location output, try swapping the outputs at the splitter it with one of the others.
If that solves the problem, the splitter could be faulty.
If that doesn't make any difference -
5) The cable run to the JVC location is much longer and has higher losses or the cable has a fault. Try one of the other televisions at that location.
If all those checks doesn't solve the problem, post back with a full postcode and more detail about the aerial installation and splitter etc.
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Tuesday, 5 January 2021
A
Anthony11:58 PM
Accrington
I was watching ITV news at ten on itv+1 and around 23.15 through a report, the signal went of for 3-4 minutes, I checked my TV's signal strength meter and channel 34 and 35 muxes were both down for that 3-4 minutes but the other multiplexes were fine, all the main ones had 94% signal strength and 100% signal quality and channel 55 multiplex signal strength 42% / signal quality 100%. My TV is an LG 47in Freeview HD / Free To Air HD Satellite model no 47LB585V-ZM. I receive Winter Hill transmitter via high quality low loss screened coax cable hooked up to a Maxview triple element wideband TV aerial at BB5 2EH. I have checked to see if there's any maintenance scheduled and there is none. I wonder what caused 34 and 35 to briefly go down then return a few minutes later? Only Channels 34 and 35 were briefly affected, the others were fine with maximum strength and quality.
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Anthony's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 6 January 2021
C
Chris.SE1:14 AM
Anthony:
A fault! The BBC have reported From 11:14pm to 11:16pm on 5th Jan 2021 BBC B HD Off the air due to a fault.
So that's PSB3 on UHF C35. As the BBC only report on multiplexes carrying their programmes, I can only assume that it was the same fault that took the D3&4/PSB2 mux (UHF C34) off air as well.
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Sunday, 17 January 2021
P
Peter Green12:46 AM
Why is COM7 still transmitting on C55 (746.0 MHz) when the 700 MHz band is supposed to have been cleared?
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C
Chris.SE3:33 AM
Peter Green:
It's because part of the 700MHz clearance was to move COM7 to C55 if it wasn't there before, ie on Winter Hill it was on C31. COM8 would have still been on C56 except Arqiva closed it for commercial reasons back at the end of last June.
C55 operates from 25 main transmitters around the country as an SFN. It is and always was a temporary mux. C55 (& C56) are in the "centre-gap" of the frequencies allocated for Mobile Download and Upload in the 700MHz band. The "centre-gap" is allocated for mobile SDL usage.
When the auction of the 700MHz band takes place IF any MNOs buy the SDL frequencies, when they have developed the necessary equipment to use it, they may give 3 months notice for C55 to close. In any event it will close at the end of June 2022 if not before.
For detail about COMs 7&8 see Rebuilding Freeview High Definition from 2019 onwards | free and easy
As you know covid-19 disrupted the final 700MHz program but this was completed last August.
The only further update to that detail is OFCOM were planning that the auction might start later this January but I haven't checked if that is still the case.
(The initial information about rebuilding Freeview HD is somewhat speculative, AFAIK based originally on what went into the "Vaizey Plan" which never got implemented!).
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Monday, 18 January 2021
P
Peter Green3:32 AM
Chris, thanks for that. As always, a very comprehensive and understandable explanation. I see from the included link that you already covered that in one of your posts in the middle of last year. I missed that and apologise for asking you to explain it again.
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C
Chris.SE3:58 AM
Peter Green:
No problem Peter. Thanks for getting back.
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