menuMENU    UK Free TV logo Freeview

 

 

Click to see updates

Full Freeview on the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps53.625,-2.516 or 53°37'30"N 2°30'56"Wsa_postcodeBL6 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 25/03/2024 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
Monday, 20 April 2015
A
anthony
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

9:44 AM

Karen, Heart TV is on a very low power transmitter with a directional aerial, beamed from winter hill in the direction of Stockport. Most people can't get it at all. Tiny differences in the sensitivity of TVs will give the effects you are getting. Assuming that you have no loose cables etc, the only solution is a better aerial. As it is not known how long this service will last and assuming reception on all the other channels is OK, you may not want to take that option.

link to this comment
anthony's 58 posts GB flag
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

10:30 AM

WINTER HILL transmitter - MainPossible weak signal [DUK]

link to this comment
Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Thursday, 23 April 2015
K
Keith Hill
1:02 PM

how can I stop Welsh transmitter channels getting to my TV in Rochdale? When I set up my TV it chooses the welsh area channels over my region (Granada)

link to this comment
Keith Hill's 1 post GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:23 PM

Keith Hill: Manual tuning or pulling the aerial out for the part of the scan where the Welsh channels are, although this might be tricky due to Moel-y-Parc (the transmitter in Wales which you are likely picking up) and Winter Hill.

The other possibility is to install an attenuator, assuming that the wanted signal from Winter Hill is higher than that of the unwanted of Moel-y-Parc. This will reduce the signal levels with the hope that the unwanted ones are disregarded by your receiver, or at least not given primary positions.

Some receivers, usually the HD ones, have a setting for region or network preference which would achieve the same objective.

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
A
anthony
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

5:19 PM

Com 8 is now on air with QVC HD channels. Transmitter power is22.6 kW.

link to this comment
anthony's 58 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 28 April 2015
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:31 AM

WINTER HILL transmitter - MainPossible weak signal [DUK]

link to this comment
Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Wednesday, 29 April 2015
J
js
sentiment_satisfiedGold

1:52 AM

Does anyone know why the Arqiva T2 multiplexes have a different bitrate to that of BBC B?

com 7: 40,200,039 bps
com 8: 40,200,034 bps
BBC B: 40,214,669 bps

(bps = bits per second)

The bitrates were measured from recorded samples of the full transport stream by "DVB-T2 Data-Rate Calculator", which is a free tool found here:

DVB-T2 Data-Rate Calculator - decontis

link to this comment
js's 822 posts GB flag
J
js
sentiment_satisfiedGold

6:46 AM

To give an idea of the accuracy of the measured bitrates, here are the results for all the Winter Hill multiplexes.

40214625 bps BBC B

40200015 bps com 7
40200018 bps com 8

27144380 bps Arqiva A
27144382 bps Arqiva B
27144372 bps SDN

24128332 bps BBC A
24128338 bps D3&4

18096298 bps LocalMux1

9048132 bps LocalMux2


The results from "DVB-T2 Data-Rate Calculator" are identical to those from my own program, which works like this:

TS packets are read until a packet containing a PCR is found. The PID is noted and PCRs are read from packets with this PID, noting the corresponding packet count, until end of file.

Results from a ten second (long enough to capture all the service tables) sample of com 7 were

pcr pid = 401
first_pcr = 2138813251731
first_packet = 2
last_pcr = 2139084457513
last_packet = 268483

Using this data we get:

bitrate = 27000000*(last_packet-first_packet)*188*8/(last_pcr-first_pcr) = 40200015 bps

Notes:
A Transport Stream (TS) is a sequence of packets.
A TS packet is 188 bytes long or 188*8 bits.
PID = packet identifier = A unique integer value used to identify elementary streams in a Transport Stream.
PCR = Program Clock Reference = A time stamp in the Transport Stream from which decoder timing is derived.
PCR is a count of cycles of the 27 MHz system clock.

link to this comment
js's 822 posts GB flag
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:31 PM

WINTER HILL transmitter - DAB: BBC National DAB Radio Off Air from 01:25 today to 02:50 today. [BBC] MainPossible weak signal [DUK]

link to this comment
Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Thursday, 30 April 2015
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

4:31 AM

WINTER HILL transmitter - DAB: BBC National DAB Radio Off Air from 01:25 yesterday to 02:50 yesterday. [BBC] MainPossible weak signal [DUK]

link to this comment
Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Select more comments

Your comment please
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.

UK Free TV is here to help people. If you are rude or disrespectful all of your posts will be deleted and you will be banned.








Privacy policy: UK Free Privacy policy.