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 02/10/2023 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), | |||||
| 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 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 Great! Movies Action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 CBS Reality, 68 RealityXtra, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 35 others | |||||
| COM5 ArqA | H max | C31 (554.0MHz) | 726m | DTG-8 | 100,000W |
 Smithsonian Channel, 11 Sky Arts, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 pick, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's 60s, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 80s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others | |||||
| COM6 ArqB | H max | C37 (602.0MHz) | 726m | DTG-8 | 100,000W |
 Quest Red +1, Classic Hits, 12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 Great! Movies Christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies +1, 63 Great! Movies Christmas 1, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 83 Together TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 20 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, 76 That's 60s MCR, 77 That's 70s MCR, 80 That's 80s MCR, 86 That's 90s, 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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Friday, 19 October 2012
K
KMJ,Derby11:20 PM
Charlie: Channel 8 in England and Northern Ireland is allocated to local tv stations, which are not yet in service. In Scotland BBC Alba is transmitted in that slot and transmissions from Wales put Channel 4 on position 8, with S4C occupying the fourth position in the channel list.
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Sunday, 21 October 2012
G
G4LDS7:26 PM
Hi
Living in Morecambe, we have Winter Hill Almost line of sight maybe 20 miles away. We have been watching Freeview for last couple years with Northwest BBC/ITV with no problems. Recently some channels have changed so had to retune the digibox (Low spec off the shelf from AS@@ DVB-T V 3.6) Now we have got very low level signals from BBC NW which has swung to ch 800-803 & BBC Wales !! has taken over as default 1-2 etc. Aerial is outside on roof beaming to Winter Hill. Any ideas ??? Is mainteance still ongoing and how do we remove BBC/ITV Wales??
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G4LDS: The receiver has tuned to the wrong transmitter. Moel-y-Parc broadcasts BBC on C45 and ITV1, C4 etc on C49; the signal strength screen should tell you which UHF channel it is tuned to.
The weaker BBC North West... I wonder, could this be from Lancaster? I say this particularly as Lancaster uses low channels (in the 20s) and will therefore be found before Winter Hill. Is Winter Hill further up in the 800s?
It may well also be the case that other national channels will be tuned incorrectly and will therefore be being received off-beam of the aerial which obviously could result in poor or intermittent reception.
Winter Hill channels are: 62, 59, 54(HD), 58, 61, 55
Lancaster's are: 27, 24, 21(HD), 25, 28, 22
Moel-y-Parc's are: 45, 49, 42(HD), 51, 52, 48
These six channels each carry a multiplex and in order they are:
PSB1 | BBC One
PSB2 | ITV1
PSB3 | BBC One HD (and other HD services)
COM4 | ITV3
COM5 | Pick TV
COM6 | Film4
The automatic tuning scan goes from UHF channel 21 to 69. You will note that Winter Hill's are the highest and so get picked up last. You may be able to manually tune to them (if the receiver allows and probably after what is already stored has been wiped).
Or run the automatic tuning scan with the aerial unplugged and plug in about 65%. This should get it in for the Winter Hill channels.
Once done, confirm that the five channels (or six if it's HD) are correct.
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Monday, 22 October 2012
G
G4LDS1:41 PM
Dave Lindsay,
Thanks for the post. I knew we had tuned to the wrong channels & didnt realise digibox went by channel rather than Signal strength! Didnt think we could Rx Welsh Tx, wondered if Winter Hill NW channels were under maintenance so weaker. I had cleared all channels by removing Ae and re-tuned then put Ae back & carried out a full new installation but it put low channels as default! Removed Ae retuned & put back Ae @ Ch 50 and lo it now defaulted to NW Tx. BTW its a long time since I saw the Winter Hill Tx as was part of the team involved in the then IBA/Ch 4 analogue upgrade at Winter Hill in 1980s when at Marconis in Chelmsford!! Where does the time go
Thanks Chris
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G4LDS: So you will have seen mb21 and the articles in the IBA staff newsletter:
mb21 - The Transmission Gallery
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G
G4LDS11:19 PM
Mr Lindsay
Wonder if you hold a ARS call???
Saw the pictures in the link.
Memories of Marconi as part of the Tx team in Chelmsford setting up the IBA Ch4 national upgrade. Never went on site though but had great contacts with the IBA/BBC ARS engineers. had the 4 port Tx combining systems explained, 4 TX in one combiner going out to one aerial and each Tx electrically not seeing any other port!!!
long time ago now!!! now learning fast on digi TV!!
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Tuesday, 23 October 2012
W
William Kane6:03 PM
I know I'm on some north east transmitter or other but can someone help, please. Every time I re-tune my freeview box, I find that the next day some of the channels have gone. As far as I know, this has only happened since the north-east switchover a couple of months back.
It always seem to be Dave and Sky News that vanish. Any advice, anyone?
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William Kane: Knowledge of the transmitter and possibly your location may well be imperative here. Asking for help on the basis that you are receiving from "some" transmitter is either not going to get any response, or some guesses may have to be made as to the blanks you've left.
The problem you describe can happen when a receiver runs out of memory because it has found more channels than it can remember. This is usually as a result of it picking up signals from additional/other transmitters and the desired transmitter being picked up last.
In the North East there are four full-service transmitters (those that carry the Commercial channels which include Dave and Sky News).
Pontop Pike uses high channels which are therefore found near to the end of the scan. Dave and Sky News are carried on Pontop Pike's highest channel which makes me wonder if you are receiving from it. If you are and this is the problem then just run the automatic tuning scan with the aerial unplugged for about the first 50% to miss out scanning of the channels used by other transmitter(s) (that you probably don't use anyway). This should leave you with memory to store COM5 which carries Sky News and Dave.
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G4LDS: Just interested in the subject. Never heard of ARS!
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Wednesday, 24 October 2012
W
William Kane7:01 AM
Yes Dave, I do believe you're right about it being Pontop Pike. I shall try what you advised.
Sorry for being so ignorant in my original post.
Thanks.
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