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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
Sunday, 17 February 2013
J
janet huyton
4:03 PM
Chorley

We have had a planning permission letter to say a wind turbine has been applied for close to our house. Is there any evidence that this will affect our tv/radio reception? thanks, Janet

link to this comment
janet huyton's 10 posts GB flag
janet's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:01 PM

janet huyton: You are indicated as being only 6 miles away from the Winter Hill transmitter at 131 degrees, and so if the turbine is located anywhere near to this bearing then there is a greater chance of it causing problems than not doing.

But though even if its behind you it still cause problems because of its relatively close proximity to the transmitter, as its blades will be in line with the main beam of the signal which can result in massive signal reflections from the rear clashing with the signal received via the front of your aerial.

The whole thing is hit and miss, as although wind turbines do not always devastate a digital signal in the same way as done with analogue transmissions, they always have to be looked at as bad news.

link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:04 PM

janet huyton: Potentially, they can affect TV reception because the blades are reflective.

Perhaps small comfort, but in such situations the company has a responsibility to rectify any issues with reception, or else provide an alternative means of watching TV.

When (technically it's "if") they are built, it may depend on which way they are facing as to whether they cause you grief, or they may do it all the time, perhaps to differing degrees.

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Friday, 22 February 2013
A
anthony
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

3:14 PM

The Manchester Multiplex has reappeared overnight on my Sony TV, this has also been reported by someone else on Digital Spy. C/N is now 19db it was always 15 previously.

link to this comment
anthony's 58 posts GB flag
Saturday, 23 February 2013
N
Nedbod
sentiment_satisfiedGold

7:03 PM

Brian : Re your post of Saturday 22 December 2012 10:20PM

Nedbod: "The UHF dates start in 1984, as this is when Channel 4 was added to the line-up. It would have taken up too much space to add in the services one by one".

I thought Channel 4 started at 5pm on the 2nd November 1982 ? One day after S4C ? So Winter Hill was broadcasting test transmissions for Channel 4 well before this. I remember buying a large Group C/D aerial to pick it up in Mottram-in-Longdendale (as we lived on the other side of a deep cutting in a poor Winter Hill reception area). At the time, the GLOSSOP relay, our best transmitter, didn't broadcast Channel 4, indeed the WREKIN was next (which we could also receive in Mottram). C4 showed the test card and test transmissions from late summer onwards I think on Channel 65. I still have a VHS recording of this somewhere (not the girl and blackboard though).

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Nedbod's 619 posts GB flag
Sunday, 24 February 2013
M
Martin Smith
7:21 PM

Just a heads up; M2 C59 seems to have been on lower power recently. Mums Humax PVR in the M33 area chose the welsh equivalents plus S4C in preference to the English versions on this Multiplex only. I manually deleted the Welsh versions from her auto scan list and manually added C59 from Winter Hill back.

Incase anyone else has the same issues with ITV, ITV+1, ITV2, Ch4 and 5.

link to this comment
Martin Smith's 1 post GB flag
Wednesday, 27 February 2013
N
Nedbod
sentiment_satisfiedGold

11:28 PM

Why is the bit rate higher on the COM 4, 5 & 6 Freeview Multiplexes than the more popular and more watched PSB 1 & 2 ?

link to this comment
Nedbod's 619 posts GB flag
N
Nedbod
sentiment_satisfiedGold

11:32 PM

Why is your transmitter icon bouncing up and down on the map, has their been an earthquake at Winter Hill. The red transmitter lights looked fairly stable from Macclesfield earlier this evening ,when I went to post a few letters. You can see Winter Hill from the post box.

link to this comment
Nedbod's 619 posts GB flag
Thursday, 28 February 2013
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:16 AM

Nedbod: So as to carry more services in order to generate more profit.

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:58 PM

Nedbod: As Dave Lindsay said. The increased bitrate comes at a cost: the required signal-to-noise ratio to nearly guarantee fully reliable reception increases, meaning that effectively coverage is reduced. The commercial operators can get away with this because they don't have to meet a high coverage target (their only requirement is to match pre-switchover Freeview coverage), while the PSBs have to achieve at least coverage matching analogue coverage levels.

The BBC take quality more seriously than the others, putting only seven video streams on PSB1 (with radio stations occupying enough space for an eighth), where ITV/C4 are aiming for nine on PSB2, and the commercial operators run 11 or 12. Two of the BBC streams - BBC Parliament and 301 (Red Button video) usually run in reduced resolution, in order to provide more capacity for the 'proper' channels.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
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