Full Freeview on the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 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 25/09/2023 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, 250 BBC Red Button, plus 16 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, 109 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, 69 HorrorXtra, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 203 CITV, 208 Pop Player, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, plus 16 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, 70 Quest +1, 71 That's 60s, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 70s, 233 Sky News, plus 9 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! romance, 73 HobbyMaker, 76 That's 80s, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 83 Together TV, 84 PBS America, 90 Together TV +1, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 19 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, 63 GREAT! romance 1, 77 That's 60s MCR, 80 That's 70s MCR, 86 That's 80s 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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Saturday, 13 April 2013
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David Rogers5:36 PM
I give up! The BBC channels have now disappeared completely again and ITV1 (but unwatchable) has replaced BBC1 at 800 on my remote.
ITV1 is still perfectly watchable at 3 on the remote, as it always has been.
If there is any logic to any of this, it's beyond me...
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martin brown5:39 PM
jb38: Many thanks for your analysis of my problem. Unfortunately I'm not familiar enough with the technological jargon to say I understand it fully, but.... I think you are advising me that my next step should be to get an aerial engineer to come and do some adjustments to try to improve reception. If, however, there is a phase matching deficiency (whatever that means, is that an insuperable problem that an aerial engineer would not be able to solve?
If you feel an aerial man should indeed be my next step, I'll do this, though I do find it odd that reception from Winter Hill was good enough to get BBC on 9 April but not on 11th!
Many thanks again for your advice
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Elisabeth Voges5:44 PM
I am writing on behalf of my Mother who has today had to pay a television engineer the sum of £57:60 to have her set retuned to receive BBC1, BBC2, BBC3 and BBC4 following the retune of the 10th of April 2013. She was able to receive all other channels apart from the BBC. Both I and my husband tried to retune these channels, but to no avail. We are both technically competent and have been able, historically, to retune our own set with no problems. She is a pensioner on a limited income and I feel very strongly that she should not have to pay for this retune, through no fault of her own. I would be obliged if you could advise me as to the most appropriate course of action.
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jb385:50 PM
martin brown: A slight alteration to that said as on checking back I see that you initially did indicate your location, which on checking the signal path to same indicates it being obstructed at approximately 1.5 miles away from you.
The other aspect of the indicator being that it only indicates natural ground obstructions and not anything other than that, such as trees or man made obstacles and which might also be playing a role.
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KMJ,Derby6:14 PM
David Rogers: If the original channel positions now consistently say no signal it suggests that the old frequency remains stored in these locations. If there is a channel delete facility on your receiver delete all those channels that report "no signal" and then re-tune. If using Winter Hill direct, manual tune C50 if the reciver permits manual tuning. If there is no channel delete facility do a factory reset to clear the channel list. Then do a complete scan with the aerial unplugged, as some receivers appear to need convincing that there really are no channels! Plug the aerial back in and scan for channels, or manually insert the frequencies of each mux for the transmitter you are using.
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Brian Ingersent6:24 PM
Kendal
Dave Lindsay: - many thanks for your detailed response! The two transmitters we receive signals from are Windermere and Winter Hill. Although Kendal is nearest we cannot get reception from that transmitter. On checking it appears there is nothing from the Lancaster transmitter (although this may be possible with moving one of the aerial directions? The channels I can receive are: Windermere 44 & 47. Winter Hill: 55, 58 & 59. If I understand you correctly, you are saying that my missing channels (49 & 50)are trying to come from Windermere rather than Winter Hill, due to the likely feed split being at C51 which would explain the situation. We would be happy enough just to use the Winter Hill option as it is a better signal (and ITV Border is rubbish!)but guess I need an aerial engineer to "undo" the link. many thanks for taking the time to try and explain a likely cause for my problem. Cheers, Brian.
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Brian's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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whobris6:49 PM
Hi hope this helps.I lost all BBC channels etc. and it has taken me 3 days to sort out. My sky box rf output was set to 50 and was clashing with new C50 changes.I. altered the sky rf to 60 retuned the freeview. and. presto all channels came back crystal clear.hope this helps
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jb387:25 PM
martin brown: Just noticed that you had already posted a reply about ten minutes or so prior to my addition, it unfortunately being hidden in the masking at the top of my screen, however the change you referred to coincided with channel number changes to the BBC and ArqA mux transmitters and which would obviously involved retuning procedures having been carried out on the transmitters involved as well as an element of aerial matching having taken place to compensate for the change of frequency, and that's what I was referring to.
But though it would be worth trying to make some checks with neighbours for purposes of verifying if they are also experiencing the same problems that you are, because should they be then its extremely doubtful if any experiments carried out on your aerial would have any chance of success, because in cases where moving an aerial in the aforementioned way is successful its usually in systems where differences in levels can be observed with movements from as little as 12" or so , or say maybe from one side of an average loft to the other, or sometimes from a fixed position roof fixing to a suitably positioned gutter mount, aerial type allowing.
But the main reason for suggesting that you first of all make an enquiry with a neighbour is really because that if you go ahead and consult an aerial installer without having made any enquiries then it could well become costly, as the very nature of the procedure I mentioned automatically means that it can be very time consuming by not being an exact science, the whole exercise being basically one of trial and error but which on occasions (and not always) can be highly successful dependant on the situation involved.
Situations where a signal level is high but accompanied by highly erratic quality is one of the most difficult things to deal with "if" the problem is not caused by an intermittent defect on the aerial system, such for example as a bad joint where the coax joins the aerial or indeed a bad joint anywhere in the aerial system, although the time factor of your problem suggests that these latter types of fault conditions mentioned are not likely to apply, unless that is by some unfortunate coincidence!!
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David Rogers7:45 PM
KMJ: Thank you so much - I now realise my difficulties were due to unfamiliarity with the "setup" sub-menu on my receiver.
I was concentrating solely on the options available on the "tuning" sub-menu. On checking the "others" sub-menu, I found an "initialize" option which I belatedly realised must be the "factory reset" that some posters (including yourself) were referring to.
That has done the trick.
Thanks once again!
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