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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
Thursday, 20 February 2014
C
Chris Harris
12:09 PM
Frodsham

Thanks Dave, I'm at WA6 7LX.
I tried the manual tuning option but am getting 0% on the signal strength on C31 using DVB-T2 and also on C57 using DVB-T.
I'm guessing the signals are just too low powered given how far I am from the transmitter.


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Chris Harris's 3 posts GB flag
Chris's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:25 PM

Chris Harris: In which case C57 isn't likely to be available to you because broadcasts directionally towards Manchester. You may, however, be able to receive the local Liverpool station when it comes on air. It will be on C56 at 2kW.

I suggest that in order to pick up C31 you may require a wideband aerial.
The transmission power of it is, according to Digital UK, 24kW, as against 100kW for the main channels.

But 24kW is in now way "low"; the fact that it is about a quarter of the others does not mean it only carries a quarter of the distance. It is a minority of viewers who live in spots where the transmitter can't be seen who really need the extra power to have any fighting chance.

You have line-of-sight, or probably near linee-of-sight, were it not for the higher ground at Halton, as this terrain plot shows:


Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location


If your aerial is a Group C/D one (best at C48 to C69) then it is likely to be less sensitive on C31, hence a wideband being suggested.

Wideband log periodics have much flatter response curves than wideband yagis, as is shown here:

Gain (curves), Again

For that reason a log may be the better bet.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
C
Chris Harris
4:40 PM

Thanks for all your help Dave, I'll look into getting a wideband log periodic - I'm sure it'll be useful in the long term.

link to this comment
Chris Harris's 3 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:42 PM

Chris Harris: Indeed. If/when the next lot of TV frequencies get cleared to sell off to the mobile operators then that will mean Winter Hill will have to move downwards further, which will put it outside Group C/D.

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Friday, 28 February 2014
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:23 AM

WINTER HILL transmitter - DAB: BBC National DAB Radio Off Air from 21:58 yesterday to 22:08 yesterday. [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Saturday, 1 March 2014
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:24 AM

WINTER HILL transmitter - DAB: BBC National DAB Radio Off Air from 21:58 on 27 Feb to 22:08 on 27 Feb. [BBC]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Wednesday, 30 April 2014
D
David Roberts
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

9:54 PM
Colwyn Bay

The Liverpool Local Mux from Winter Hill,on UHF ch56,is being received rather well,in the North Wales Coastal areas. Checks at various addresses i have been called to,have provided signal strength's between 50 - 75%,in my local area,of Colwyn Bay. As if it needed to be said,Winter Hill,is by far the the most watched DVB-T transmitter site,in the North Wales coastal areas,despite the area being dropped by ITV Granada,in the Summer of 2009.

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David Roberts's 23 posts GB flag
David's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 14 May 2014
J
jo
11:34 AM
Stockport

I have a freeview tv with an indoor aerial I have used successfully for the last couple of years. During the day this seems to be fine, but the signal drops dramatically during the evening, and I loose most channels apart from BBC. This has happened over the last couple of nights - during the early hours of the morning and after 10 at night.
Is there a reason for this?

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jo's 2 posts GB flag
jo's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
Jo Gannon
1:39 PM
Stockport

jo:
I've checked this and everything is fine - it's just overnight when it seems to drop.
My location is SK4 3BJ. As I have said, I have used an indoor booster aerial for years which has always worked.

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Jo Gannon's 2 posts GB flag
Jo's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
MikeB
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:32 PM

Jo Gannon: A couple of things occur - firstly, are you actually tuned to Winter Hill? If you look on the home to mast link, you can see that there are other transmitters that would give a worse signal, but might come up first in any scan.

The second is that you've got a fault in the cabling, and perhaps moisture is creeping in at night (when its cooler).

The other could be that your booster is causing a problem by giving you too high a signal (check that the signal is actually dropping, and not going wildly up and down) try bypassing it, since your just 31km from Winter Hill and might not need it.

After that, perhaps someone else has an idea?

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MikeB's 2,579 posts GB flag
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