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 25/11/2024 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?

S

Stephen Crossland
10:50 PM
Lancaster

All seems back to normal now.
for taking your attention but is as good as ever.
Thanks for being there.
sjc

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Stephen Crossland's 4 posts GB flag

Stephen's: S's Freeview map S's terrain plot S's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage

J

janet
4:29 PM
Leyland

Stephen Crossland:

PR25 3AG

We have just recently lost EVERY on our Sony TV and have a pretty new rooftop in the area :-(

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janet's 10 posts GB flag

janet's: J's Freeview map J's terrain plot J's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage

M

Mazbar

_{sentiment_satisfied}Gold

5:55 PM

Stephen does your tv have something saying or is the snowy if it is snowy you might have pressed the analouge button if so try pressing the button if you are on the digital side and your is ok call your aerial man he should come out and he might be able to you

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Mazbar's 384 posts GB flag

Briantist

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

8:20 AM

janet: Please see Freeview reception has changed? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice .

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag

D

DC
5:30 PM

I have recently been receiving issues, all the HD are fine but all others are erratic, the channels I am having problems with always have 99% signal but signal strength fluctuates between 0% and 100%, you don't lose when the issue is occurring just lots of freezing and horrible popping noises. (The HD channels that never cause any issues always have an 89% signal quality and 42% strength)

I live 10 miles from and have a clear view to the , my arial is communal and serves 8 flats (Though everyone else i have spoken to in here seems to use ), its all worked perfectly for the last 3 years.

Thanks.

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DC's 1 post GB flag

M

Mark Fletcher

_{sentiment_satisfied}Gold

1:10 AM
Halifax

DC.You need to provide a full postcode as without this the true professionals on here are not able to provide qualified information as such !

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Mark Fletcher's 673 posts GB flag

Mark's: M's Freeview map M's terrain plot M's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Briantist

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Owner

6:37 AM

DC: Please see Freeview signals: too much of a good thing is bad for you | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice please.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag

G

GB
10:40 PM
Nantwich

Hi,
We have a five year old wide band and I think we are getting signals from and we have had great until last Saturday when we lost most except BBC1 & BBC2. My TV works fine at my neighbours, so its a or aerial fault. But I have just borrowed a , plugged in just behind the TV, and can now get most channels apart from COM6 (ArqB), Yesterday & Film4. Can an aerial fail on just some MUX signals and not others? And what faults would I see if a 'broken coax on the was letting in water' ?

Many thanks for any advice you can give.

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GB's 5 posts GB flag

GB's: G's Freeview map G's terrain plot G's frequency data G's Freeview Detailed Coverage

J

jb38

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

8:27 AM

GB: The strengths received from each in a group of multiplexes are not necessarily all going to be at the same level even although the transmission power of each may be the same, and I suspect that the Mux you have lost is simply because they were just being received and no more in the first place, but due to normal atmospheric condition changes they have now dipped under the threshold, this being why the has enabled them to return.

The fact that your TV works fine on your neighbours is simply because their aerial system is a little more efficient than yours, maybe they also have a booster in their , or even a head amp? and so although its possible that water has got into the co-ax , it really boils down to the fact that your aerial system requires improving and not that it has failed.

When your TV was working on your neighbours aerial you should have carried out a signal strength / check on BBC1 then on ITV1, then compared the levels seen to when connected to your own aerial, as I suspect that the level you will see on even BBC1 (which you say is OK) will be somewhat different to that seen when on your neighbours aerial.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag

G

GB
5:57 PM
Nantwich

Dear jb38,
Many thanks. I did not appreciate that I could look at strength & on my TV. I have just done this and looking at the HD the strength is about 60% but the quality is 0% and no . When the was installed we did have a big tree next door, which has since been removed. So my aerials direction was 20 degrees offset to try to get around the tree, that is in comparison to aerial direction of all my neighbours. I know that this now needs correcting.
I am just trying to understand what fault has occurred this week. I am trying to a little info before asking an aerial guy to come out. Thanks again

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GB's 5 posts GB flag

GB's: G's Freeview map G's terrain plot G's frequency data G's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Page 23

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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