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 04/11/2024 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?

K

KMJ,Derby

_{sentiment_satisfied}Gold

10:21 AM

David: This is quite normal in the Northwest where there is a considerable overlap in the coverage of the and Moel-Y-Parc transmitters. As M-Y-P frequencies are found first during the any found are stored in the LCN (normal) positions in the , with variations often being stored in the 800's. Clear the channel list by doing a factory reset, then manually insert the Winter Hill frequencies if your this is possible on your . Otherwise start the scan with the aerial unplugged, wait until scan reaches then plug the aerial in to scan the Winter Hill frequencies.

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KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag

R

RUTH HUDSON
12:48 PM

I m on a humax tv i have never before had so many missing....since the middle of November ...film on 4 viva and many othe channelsl i get my from i live in Southport ..........its always been perfect i do not have a freeview box both televisions are the same one is two years old HELP ....

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RUTH HUDSON's 1 post GB flag

J

jb38

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

3:21 PM

RUTH HUDSON: According to the trade view predictor you are capable of picking up a from Moel-Y-Parc as well as , so whilst on one of the that is causing problems (Viva) go into the signal check menu screen and observe if the Mux channel number shown is Ch55, as if its Ch48 then that's not Winter Hill, so manual tuning of the channel will be required.

Winter Hill uses: Mux Ch's62 (BBC) - Ch59 (ITV) - Ch54 (HD) - Ch58 (ITV3 etc) - Ch61 (Pick TV etc) - Ch55 (Film4 / ITV4 etc)

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag

D

David
4:07 PM

KMJ. Thank you for your prompt and easy to understand response. Retuned telling box not to start until and things were as they should be! Thank you

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David's 2 posts GB flag

R

Richard

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

11:08 PM

I have a Sony Bravia 32in Tv The model number is KDL-32V5500 Full HD 1080 Why can't I recieve like BBC 1 HD AND ITV HD Etc. Would I have to get a HD set top box to recieve the HD channels

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Richard's 67 posts GB flag

Dave Lindsay

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

6:37 PM

Richard: From what I can see it doesn't have a HD tuner in it. If it is labelled as "" then that means that it will display HD, but not from it's own tuner. It will need a box to work.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag

R

Robert Palmer
8:24 AM

Dave:

In the LA13, LA14 area in Cumbria we regular breaks in transmission normally a few minutes at a time. It is not my installation as I have enquired from other viewers all over town. These breaks have occured ever since switch over, it becomes very annoying when the freezs and the sound is lost during the news or the likes of documentaries.
Please explain this problem. (LA13 LA)

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Robert Palmer's 3 posts GB flag

H

heather lord
11:13 AM
Lytham St. Annes

Hi.
We are constantly each day loosing and then they appear again for a very short time. we, each day,loose itv channels for days on end and then the when they do return the and sound can hardly be seen or heard. some days it can be bbc channels that we can not view.. i have tried resetting the tv each time we can not view channels but nothing is getting any better.. this has now been going on for 3 months..each time i go onto this website it says that there is nothing wrong with so what on earth is wrong... can some one!!! the tv is still in the same place on the so it has not moved.. the is ok...

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heather lord's 1 post GB flag

heather's: H's Freeview map H's terrain plot H's frequency data H's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Dave Lindsay

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

12:33 PM

heather lord: Have you confirmed that it is tuned to the broadcast by and not another ?

Run the auto-tune with the unplugged and then plug it in when it gets to 60%. That way you will have the aerial unplugged when it scans frequencies used by other transmitters and plugged in for Winter Hill's frequencies.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag

R

Robert Palmer
9:44 PM
Barrow-in-furness

In the area LA13/LA14 we experience intermittant breaks in transmission or the freezes. It is not reciever equipment as I have mafde enquirers and everybody in the area has the same proble3m. Could this be an EMC problem if it is who sorts it out. We pay to recieve a service without it has only occurred since the cahnge to DTV.

Please advise

R C Palmer

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Robert Palmer's 3 posts GB flag

Robert's: R's Freeview map R's terrain plot R's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage

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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.

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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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