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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
Friday, 18 September 2020
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:12 AM

Alison Foster:

Apart from mentioning the BBC channels you haven't given details of the other channels that are problematic as well as those that are ok. Without a full postcode we can't advise on the predicted reception at your location.

That said, before this last change in August were you watching the BBC channels at LCNs 751 and up in your EPG?
The first of these final changes was made by Freeview last February where the BBC main multiplex was moved to UHF C32 with programmes at the normal LCNs 1,2,9 etc but the old one on UHF C50 was left simulcasting with the programmes at 751 et seq. Whilst a lot of people would be (and did) get satisfactory reception of C32, this was so that people who weren't getting satisfactory reception on C32 (which is generally due to having an old Group C/D aerial), had time to arrange for the free support for aerial replacement before the last change which was due in April but postponed until August due to covid-19.
(Since the changes you need a Group T/Wideband to get all multiplexes if you are predicted to get them all).

I assume you can no longer get any of the local multiplexes either (on lower channels than C32, although if you are in the Preston area you might as that one is on C40) but again without knowing the full postcode I couldn't be certain. My guess is not, as you mention about getting reception from Wales.

Just to make matters worse at this moment, there is some interference to signals due to "tropospheric ducting" (see Effect of tropospheric ducting on Freeview | Help receiving TV and radio for a simplistic explanation) This can be quite variable and will come and go, so a further retune to get Winter Hill back may help if signals are more stable.

However, to resolve the primary problem, providing you don't have cable or satellite (I again guess not from your comments) and it your own aerial on your home you can get free help from Freeview. You need to ring them on 0808-100-0288 and tell them that since the August changes you've had pixellation on the BBC and other channels, you had problems with the BBC channels since February, that you've retuned several times to no effect (and you've currently lost Winter Hill channels) and have been advised that your aerial needs replacing because it's an old Group C/D. They should put you through to DMSL who will arrange the free aerial replacement with you.


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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:35 AM

Alison Foster: It sounds like you have an older grouped aerial which is no longer suitable for reception of Winter Hill since the frequency changes were completed in August. If you don't have satellite or cable, give the Freeview Advice Line a call (see link below) and they should be able to arrange for someone to come out and fit a replacement wideband aerial free of charge.

Help | Freeview

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StevensOnln1's 3,605 posts GB flag
S
Sue
2:29 PM

Hi,

I'm just curious if anyone else has lost their Freeview HD channels in the last few days?

All of a sudden 106 - 113 have disappeared from all the TV's in our house, and re-tuning has had no effect. I believe they are from COM7.

I can see a few posts above that may be of use but they appear slightly technical and not sure I follow!

Thanks,

Sue.

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Sue's 1 post GB flag
Saturday, 19 September 2020
D
Dave
10:45 AM

I lost com 7 yesterday too. I haven't found any changes listed anywhere so it's a bit of a puzzle. I don't think it's aerial or amplifier related as both have been working fine all the way back to when Winter Hill required wideband aerials and amplifiers.

Looking directly for CH55 in the manual tune menu shows no signal at all.

link to this comment
Dave's 4 posts GB flag
D
Dave
10:52 AM

To clarify, all my other channels are fine. COM7 was working fine on Thursday. I live in Chester....so quite a long way from Winter Hill.

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Dave's 4 posts GB flag
A
Andy
12:29 PM

No Channel 55 Com 7 in Chester, could High Pressure be the problem as Sutton Coldfield on same channel as well

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Andy's 3 posts GB flag
A
Andy
12:36 PM
Chester

No Ch55. Com7 . Postcode CH1 6BE, Could it be High Pressure be the problem as Sutton Coldfield on same channel.

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Andy's 3 posts GB flag
Andy's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:44 PM

Sue:

The problem explained in the posts previous to yours are more generally about people having problems with the normal BBC and ITV etc SD channels since the changes in August. Even if you didn't have those problems and also had an old Group C/D aerial, that old aerial picks up C55 COM7 with no problem.

The issue is more likely to be due to a lot of "Tropospheric Ducting" around causing interference, see Effect of tropospheric ducting on Freeview | RTIS for a simplistic explanation. Signals can travel from distant transmitters in Europe or the UK and "knock out" local signals for periods of time. It's likely to continue for a day or two more on current predictions.

Dave:

The "Tropo" is the most likely cause.

Andy:

Tropospheric Ducting can accompany High Pressure, but it's not high pressure per se that's the cause. Nor is it directly due to Sutton Coldfield being on the same channel, as COM7 operates as a "Single Frequency Network" (SFN) where the signals are synchronised, and the 25 main transmitters in the UK that transmit COM7 all use C55. The atmospheric conditions described can also disrupt that synchronisation so any transmitter could cause interference with others in some locations, but it can/will be quite variable.

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Chris.SE's 4,101 posts GB flag
Sunday, 20 September 2020
D
Dave
10:16 AM

Just noticed that Model y Parc.....the physically nearest transmitted to Chester is also transmitting COM7 on CH55. I wonder if they've changed the radiation pattern of Winter Hill to avoid interference? If that is the case, my best hope for getting the channels back is to wait for another retune event and keep my fingers crossed.

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Dave's 4 posts GB flag
D
Dave
10:19 AM

Sorry Chris, didn't see.your comment before posting. I hadn't realised that COM7 was on the same channel across the UK. I'll keep my fingers crossed that it clears itself up in the next couple of days.

Thanks

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Dave's 4 posts GB flag
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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.

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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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