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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
Sunday, 9 August 2020
M
Mazbar
sentiment_satisfiedGold

12:36 PM

Hi does anyone know what time the retune takes place on Wednesday, so what time the channel's go off and the new ones come back on thanks.

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Mazbar's 384 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:15 PM

Mazbar:

Transmitters normally go off just after midnight. The retune is normally complete on main transmitters like Winter Hill by 6.00am, but as this was originally scheduled for April, and they've been have a practise with a few things during planned engineering in recent weeks, you never know, it may be back on sooner. But then again, unexpected events can occur!!

If it's a relay transmitter, they usually happen a bit later in the morning and some have to wait until the afternoon.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 12 August 2020
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:12 AM

Mazbar:

I think Winter Hill was all up and running by 0230, not heard of any issues (yet!).

All:

For those they may have missed any previous information in/on the local media and pop-up on-screen messages and may not have read the previous posts here -
In February the main BBC multiplex moved to C32, the TV programmes remaining in the LCNs 1,2, etc in the EPG, but the multiplex continued a simulcast on its previous C50 but with the TV programmes in LCNs 751 et seq.
The final retune event has now taken place at Winter Hill, are you getting the BBC channels BBC1, BBC2 etc on LCN's 1,2, etc.? If Not, you may be missing other channels as well if you have not carried out a full retune. If you've done that and are still missing channels post back with some more detail. Here is some further information -

Older Group C/D aerials will still pick up some signals on "out of band/group" channels lower down in the UHF band (but not often the other way about) but they may be too weak for a given TV receiver to decode.
Even if you are getting the BBC channels on C32 they may not be as reliable as they should be depending on your aerial, and reception of the lower channels will be very variable so eg. C37 may be less reliably received if it's a C/D group aerial. If you can see the ends of the aerial (maybe use binoculars or a telescope) if it has a Green plastic plug in the ends then it's a C/D group. If you happen to know that it's a Wideband aerial (which receives all Groups) the this isn't the issue and we need to look for other reasons, but we can probably check more if the right information is in your TV's tuning sections.

In your TVs tuning sections, there should be an indication of signal strength and signal quality for each multiplex on its respective UHF channel.
One each set, first have a look at C32 for the PSB1/BBCA multiplex and note down the figures. Then look at PSB2/D3&4 at C34 and note the figures. Then have a look at COM6/ArqB on C37 and note the figures.
If you used to receive COM7 on C55, look at that one as well. And if need be the BBCB HD mux on C35 (you need a T2/HD tuner for HD channels.
Did you used to receive any of the Local multiplexes, if so have a look for the signals on C21, C24, C27, or C40. Which ones you got/will get will depend on location in - Liverpool, Manchester (C24. C27) or Preston.

If you were receiving most channels before the retune and are not now, you most likley need a replacement aerial which you can get arranged Free of Charge by ringing Freeview on 0808-100-0288.

Otherwise post the information mentioned above and we'll try and help further.
The final channels in the order PSBs1-3, COMs 4-7, Local Liverpool, Local Manchester, Local Preston, Manchester GI, are
C32, C34, C35, C29, C31, C37, C55, C24, C21, C40, C27.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
P
Pauline
11:00 AM

Chris.SE: Hello, I had all the free view channels upto 12.15am when they all went off. I then retuned and now have no channels at all after several retuning attempts still have no channels. Same no signal on my recorder either. What can I do?.

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

1:56 PM

Pauline:

Have you retuned since? The transmitter was not back on air with all multiplexes until at least 0230.
If you have and still have no channels, did you previously have the regular BBC channels at LCNs 1,2,9 etc in your programme guide, or were they at 751,752 etc.
Please provide a full postcode so we can see what the predicted reception is at your location.
Did you read the post immediately before yours?

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

2:17 PM

All:

Apologies for the error in the channel listing of the Local Multiplexes, I have the Manchester and Liverpool ones the wrong way round, it should be:
Local Liverpool, Local Manchester, Local Preston, Manchester GI on C21, C24, C40, & C27.
The main multiplexes are as previously listed C32, C34, C35, C29, C31, C37, C55 for PSBs1-3, COMs 4-7.
For which channels are on which multiplex see https://www.freeview.co.u…ngs.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
M
Mazbar
sentiment_satisfiedGold

3:13 PM

Chris.SE: done 17 retune today, no problem with signal at all.

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Mazbar's 384 posts GB flag
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:59 PM

Mazbar:

Good show, hope that continues. There's a handful of people who are getting problems, no doubt got old C/D group aerials and not in a strong enough signal area. What beats me is that prior to retune they must have been getting the BBC channels at 751,752, ...etc in their EPG rather than 1,2,9, etc. and they never bothered to ask why or seek advice, so now they'll have a wait for Freeview to organise the Free In-Home support!

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Thursday, 13 August 2020
B
Bill Tapp
9:18 AM

I`m wondering what is going to happen to BBC Four HD and sundry other services on Ch55 (Winter Hill) when that frequency ceases to be available after November 2020. I haven`t been able to find any information on the net. Do you know of any info regarding this?

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Bill Tapp's 1 post GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:40 AM

Bill Tapp: There has been no announcement as to what will happen with any of the channels on COM7, nor has there been any announcement of COM7 closing in November. COM7 is currently licenced until 2022, however it may close earlier with 3 months notice if whichever mobile operator (if any) acquires the centre gap frequencies in the forthcoming 700MHz auction wishes to make use of them sooner.

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StevensOnln1's 3,606 posts GB flag
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