Full Freeview on the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter
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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 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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Tuesday, 8 March 2022
O
Oliver12:26 AM
I have lost C55 746mhz, C57 762mhz the past couple of days with just the odd
flash of pixilation and sound every few seconds but nothing watchable when it was fine a few days earlier. Interestingly CH56 754mhz is still perfect at 82% strength 100% quality.
I believe this is probably due to new 5G in the area, is it worth trying to get a filter at all
or will these MUX's be switched off very soon anyway, no amps in use btw.
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C
Chris.SE2:40 AM
Oliver:
Posts sometimes take an inordinate amount of time to appear on this site, so please wait several minutes before reposting. Also, there is little point in subsequently repeating your post at 1/2hrly intervals, it won't get a quicker response.
I think you are not looking at your TV tuning section correctly as there have been no Freeview transmissions (on any transmitter) on UHF channels C56 & C57 since the completion of the 700MHz Clearance program in August 2020.
The list at the top of this page has not been fully updated since the end of the 700MHz Clearance as the site owner has not been able to find time to update everything.
See my post (p219, Saturday, 5 February 2022, 8.08am), the one just before your first post, for full details of Winter Hill's UHF channels.
I can't find any reports of any faults at Winter Hill (the BBC are normally very good at providing information as COM7 problems would affect BBC News HD and BBC Four HD), and the transmitter isn't currently listed for Planned Engineering.
As you haven't provided a full postcode the information may not be 100% accurate.
If there are/were to be any new 4G/5G transmissions in the 700MHz band near you that would affect your reception, then you should have received a postcard from https://restoretv.uk/
The mast would need to be very very close to you if it were not on the line-of-sight to Winter Hill, even then it would need to be within 1km or so.
If there is such a mast, then a Free filter would be obtainable from restoretv.uk Such a filter would cut down all transmissions above UHF C48. In any event COM7 is a temporary mux due to be switched off by the end of June2022 under the terms of its current licence. If you are getting 4G/5G interference a filter is still recommended contact restoretv.uk for more information and detail about nearby masts.
All that said, there is one more common source of problems with interference to C55. Have you altered anything around, moved cables etc. in your installation? Make sure you don't have any HDMI cables near any unscreened/poorly screened flyleads/aerial leads especially if those aerial/flyleads aren't double screened coax as HDMI has been known to cause interference.
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O
Oliver9:34 PM
Many thanks for your reply Chris. I wasn't aware it was actually posting as I kept getting an
error performing query evertime I submitted my post.
You are indeed correct what I thought was CH56 is actually CH24 on which I can pick up
That's TV Manchester ok. What I thought was CH57 is actually CH27 with the GIM Mux that's
breaking up but I have watched it fine before. CH55 was fine until just before the weekend and I haven't changed anything with the setup to explain it.
I haven't had a postcard but I have had this in the local press TV interference in Glossop as mobile networks upgraded - Quest Media Network - Tameside Radio, Tameside Reporter, Oldham Reporter, Glossop Chronicle
I'm really not sure where the mast would be and yes I do have good CT100 type coax. I shall see if I can get a filter if they are free it cant hurt to try I guess.
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Wednesday, 9 March 2022
C
Chris.SE1:33 AM
Oliver:
Hi Oliver, I hadn't appreciated that the fatal error on posting was still occurring as I haven't had it myself recently. I wish the site owner would try and fix these problems.
It will depend on exactly where your locale is, parts of the general area won't get brilliant reception from Winter Hill, but especially C55. The Planned Engineering lists aren't always 100% accurate so there may be work going on at present affecting your reception.
As for the GIM mux, it's apparently not uncommon for it to have "technical" problems - it's not maintained by the same company that do the main multiplexes! A tip that I picked up was a good way to try and get issues resolved quickly was to phone TV Warehouse and tell them you were struggling to watch as there seemed to be something wrong with transmission (if you can't see what they're selling you can't buy) - they know exactly who to chase!
I would contact https://restoretv.uk/ and ask them if there's a new mast that'll affect your reception in your postcode. If they say yes, ask them why they haven't sent out postcards - not the first time I've heard this of late, they don't seem to be doing an effective job!
If they say no, it could be down to engineering so hopefully will resolve soon. Don't forget any 700MHz filter they supply will cut out C55. You could ask them if they have any C60 filters left (that was to do with the previous 800MHz clearance) but may cut down on any signals close to and above C55 if they aren't that strong/close to you.
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Saturday, 12 March 2022
O
Oliver2:50 PM
I contacted Restore TV and they confirmed new 700mhz 5G activity in my area. Basically told me COM7 is going as we know so just tough you lost it early from the interference.
They did send me a 700mhz filter which as expected totally wiped out any signal at all on COM7
but it has interestingly taken the signal quality up on CH27 GMAN from about 55% to 80%. I expect the main reason for that is my K group aerial being at its most resonant in the 700mhz region.
I shall wait to see what happens longterm with the HD channels on Freeview but may well end up moving to Freesat.
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C
Chris.SE10:14 PM
Oliver:
Any very strong signal within the band will cause the receiver to lose some sensitivity, this will have a more marked effect on any of the weak signals, especially if those may be subject to interference from other transmitters in some locations. At least your GMAN signal is a bit better.
Virtually all aerials (except log-periodics) have more gain at the higher frequencies within their band.
If the HD channels on COM7 don't move to another HD mux (which would involve at least one other mux having to convert to T2) then I'd guess quite a few people will add Freesat - a lot of modern TVs already have a satellite tuner, so just a dish and LNB would be needed.
Did restoretv.uk explain why they hadn't bothered sending out postcards?
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Friday, 1 April 2022
I
Ian Price2:42 PM
What degree is winter hill from Kirkby Liverpool
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C
Chris.SE5:23 PM
Ian Price:
Posts unfortunately take an inordinate amount of time to appear sometimes on this site, so it's best to wait several minutes to see if they appear before trying again, even if you get an error message!
Winter Hill will be around compass bearing 59 degrees from Kirkby Liverpool. It might vary a fraction depending on exactly where you are in the area, but the beamwidth of your aerial should take care of that.
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Tuesday, 12 April 2022
J
James Robinson10:39 PM
Do we know whether COM7 will close on the same day all over the country or will it be staggered?
And will we really have DTT right up to 2034 given Ofcom renewed the D3&4 licence the other day,?
Will other muxes be closing and if so any idea when? Thanks.
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Wednesday, 13 April 2022
C
Chris.SE12:33 AM
James Robinson:
As far as we know COM7 will close nationwide at the end of June because that is what the current licence says. COMs 7 & 8 always were temporary muxes. There is no other planned closures known (The D3&4 and SDN mutliplex licences have just been renewed, ArqA & B currently run until 2026).
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