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 15/04/2024 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),
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 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)	726m	DTG-8	100,000W
	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)	726m	DTG-8	100,000W
	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)	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 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?

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?

M

Mary lomax
11:04 AM

WA13LT
Please explain how to do a full we do not know how to do it thank you.

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Mary lomax's 3 posts GB flag

M

martin brown
11:19 AM

I have now completed all the recommended retunes including a 'default' settings for the Humax box that gives me this option, and am still stuck. I have tried manually retuning as suggested by Timbo above, and channel 49 came up with various programmes (mainly ITV) that were there in any case - only adding four - and tuning to channel 50 706 Mhz gave the response 'no channels found'. This is clearly the containing the BBC channels, so I am back to square one. One of my Humax boxes does not even give me the option of manually retuning.

Does anyone have any advice, please? Is the problem really with my Humax boxes or is it a problem, ie the is just not reaching my house? I don't want to spend hours queuing to speak to the Humax helpline if it's a transmitter problem.

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martin brown's 5 posts GB flag

T

Tony Hamer
11:30 AM

I have just spent a happy 30 mins on the phone to my mum, trying to get her TV sorted following your works on 10th April 2013. She had lost all BBC from and thought that the TV was broken, or the was broken!! Why can't you do what they seem to do in the South and put a message on the screen that tells people to re-tune their TV/Freeview box? Problem now sorted but she was very confused and not sure what was going on with the channels. Please remember not everyone is as technically minded as you!!

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Tony Hamer's 1 post GB flag

R

Ron Draperron
11:50 AM

lomax:Press menu on your tv remote.You should see installation.You will see 2 options automatic or manual scan.If after an automatic scan you find some missing try a manual scan on and . this helps

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Ron Draperron's 2 posts GB flag

R

Ron Draper
12:01 PM

I have a Samsung with inbuilt.After an automatic yesterday I had Itv Wales and ItvHD midlands.I had to do a manual scan to get my normal local stations.

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Ron Draper's 2 posts GB flag

A

Alex Fisher
12:05 PM

There is clearly a problem with the and the 49 and 50 frequencies aren't working. What's frustrating is that no-one is actually helping us resolve it. Is anyone there???

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Alex Fisher's 3 posts GB flag

B

Brian Ingersent
12:47 PM
Kendal

Since the 10th we have lost all BBC and the Pick TV/Dave batch as well. Tried all the re-tuning suggestions, including remocing connection etc. but to no avail. Can't do a manual as it says there is on channels 49 and 50. Fortunately I can get BBC from the but this only has a very limited service and not the Pick TV/Dave group. It seems there are quite a few of us who seem to think there is a transmitter problem as we can get no signal on the channels that have moved. Any appreciated!

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Brian Ingersent's 4 posts GB flag

Brian's: B's Freeview map B's terrain plot B's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage

J

jb38

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

1:07 PM

martin brown: Humax boxes are great for carrying out strength tests in the same way as though a signal meter was being used, and so to give a better idea of the situation you should check each of Winter Hills mux in turn using the Humax's manual tune facility but NOT followed by pressing search or , as that will bring the cut off threshold level into the equation.

Make a note of the strength & (particularly the latter) on each of these five muxes, or six if you have an HD box, then give on results.

Ch50 (BBC) - Ch59 (ITV1) - Ch54 (HD) - Ch58 (ITV3 etc) - Ch49 (Pick TV etc) - Ch55 (Film 4 etc))

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag

B

bert
1:50 PM
Chester

hi all, just found out if you have cummunal areial that is the problem and it needs retuning

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bert's 2 posts GB flag

bert's: B's Freeview map B's terrain plot B's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage

I

Ian
2:23 PM

"following your works" and "no-one is actually helping us resolve it. Is anyone there???"

There seems to be a misconception that this this site is connected with the broadcasters or the companies - it is not. It is an independent site. See the about page ukfree.tv is managed by Brian Butterworth | About us | ukfree.tv - 10 years of independent, free digital TV advice

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Ian's 7 posts GB flag

Page 57

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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