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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
Thursday, 22 September 2016
A
anthony
5:32 PM

Heaven knows why they keep posting this, I have never seen any instances of it so they must be rare and brief. The problem is that people with faulty aerial systems seem to keep latching on to it instead of investigating their systems.

link to this comment
anthony's 7 posts GB flag
Friday, 23 September 2016
J
js
sentiment_satisfiedGold

12:09 AM

anthony: "Possible weak signal [DUK]" is next to useless as date/time, duration, reduction in power and affected multiplexes are not given.

In the last few months I have been recording items off (Winter Hill) com7 during the daytime and have become all too aware of periods of reduced power, which have resulted in failed recordings.

On every such occasion both com7 and com8 were down by 6dB, other multiplexes being unaffected.

Here are my reports for two such events, in a week wherein they happened daily. (Given previous experience, I started logging at 9am, continuing until power was reduced and again from 4pm until power was returned to normal levels):

Winter Hill Reduced Power:
com7, -6dB, 24 August 2016 09:05 to 24 August 2016 16:50
com8, -6dB, 24 August 2016 09:07 to 24 August 2016 16:52

Winter Hill Reduced Power:
com7, -6dB, 25 August 2016 09:57 to 25 August 2016 17:40
com8, -6dB, 25 August 2016 09:59 to 25 August 2016 16:58

The most recent examples of this kind of reduced power occurred Monday 19 September and Tuesday 20 September.

My loft-mounted C/D aerial is not optimal, but all ten multiplexes are normally receivable without error. A 6dB drop in power-output for com7 puts it at or beyond the cliff edge.

Winter Hill Reduced Power scans:
http://i.imgur.com/bvsWDfE.png



Winter Hill Reduced Power - Album on Imgur



Tools used:
http://i.imgur.com/lhbcVu4.png




link to this comment
js's 823 posts GB flag
Saturday, 24 September 2016
A
anthony
9:06 AM

A loft mounted group C/D aerial is not suitable for reception of channels 31 and 37, which are used for comms 7&8, as the response at those frequencies together with the fact that they are transmitted at lower power means you are operating at the edge of the digital cliff unless you are in a very strong signal area. A log periodic together with a head amplifier might work but the only sensible solution is to have a roof mounted aerial installed by a competent rigger. What is your approximate location?

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anthony's 7 posts GB flag
Friday, 30 September 2016
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

12:09 AM

WINTER HILL transmitter - Possible weak signal [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,822 posts xx flag
Saturday, 8 October 2016
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

12:09 AM

WINTER HILL transmitter - Possible weak signal [DUK]

link to this comment
Transmitter engineering's 149,822 posts xx flag
Thursday, 3 November 2016
B
Brian Norton
8:22 PM

We live in Skelmersdale and have historically had poor signals from Winter Hill (Ashurst Beacon blocks out some of it). Recently we seem to be regularly losing HD signals for hours at a time. Very frustrating!

link to this comment
Brian Norton's 1 post GB flag
Friday, 4 November 2016
N
Nigel
10:41 PM

It's ridiculous here in the Preston area. not had Com 7 at all since last saturday and lost 3 quarter of the HD channels alongside the SD one's on the same mux. I contacted Freeview, digital UK but they say there is nothing wrong with the transmitter.

Funny it was all ok up til then so something has gong wrong

link to this comment
Nigel's 1 post GB flag
Saturday, 5 November 2016
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:51 PM

Nigel:

It's possibly due to atmospherics that has been around in various parts of the UK for the past 10 days or so. Nothing anyone can do about this natural phenomenon that occurs every year and often more than once. Do NOT retune your equipment but be patient. It should diminish soon according to the weather forecasters.



link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Friday, 11 November 2016
J
Jim
11:28 AM

Is there a problem with Com 7 and Com8. For the past three weeks all channels on these frequencies are breaking up badly. (Affecting 3 Tvs each with separate aerial

link to this comment
Jim's 8 posts GB flag
M
Martin B
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

12:32 PM

There are no known issues with the winter hill services. If you wish for help from the forum, we really need much more information -

Your postcode is essential for a start, so we know where you are in relation to the transmitter, but also, what exactly is the issue you are having? exactly which services? Are any other services affected in any way? What make and model equipment do you have? Have you an outside antenna and is it known t be working properly? Is it a wideband antenna or an old banded one?

For some odd reason, winter hill seems to get a lot of these sorts of complaints yet is not at fault? There certainly seems to be some sort of collective downer on it amongst the viewing public!

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Martin B's 23 posts GB flag
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