Full Freeview on the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter
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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 22/04/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels 
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Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
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 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 | |||||
| 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-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 | ITVwaves | ||||||||
| C12 | BBCtvwaves | ||||||||
| C24 | _local | ||||||||
| C29 | SDN | ||||||||
| C31 | com7 | com7 | |||||||
| C32 | BBCA | ||||||||
| C34 | D3+4 | ||||||||
| C35 | BBCB | ||||||||
| C37 | com8 | com8 | |||||||
| C40 | LOCAL2 | ||||||||
| C48 | C5waves | C5waves | |||||||
| C49tv_off | ArqA | ArqA | |||||||
| C50tv_off | BBCA | BBCA | |||||||
| C54tv_off | -BBCB | -BBCB | -BBCB | ||||||
| C55tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | ArqB | ArqB | ArqB | com7tv_off | ||
| C56tv_off | _local | _local | _local | LPR | |||||
| C57tv_off | GIM | GIM | GIM | GIM | |||||
| C58tv_off | SDN | SDN | SDN | ||||||
| C59tv_off | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | |||
| C61 | ArqA | ||||||||
| C62 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | |||||
| C65 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves |
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 GranadaWhich companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Winter Hill transmitter area
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Friday, 30 June 2023
S
Steve2:52 PM
Just come across your website (30-06-2023) after many unresolved Sony RDR HXD-870 auto update problems and can hopefully provide a lot of info to shed light on my 'still not fully resolved' problem.
I am in the SK22 postcode area and can see the Winter Hill to the NW which is approx 35 miles distant. Reception from my roof aerial has been and still is very good.
I have 3 of the extremely useful Sony RDR HXD-870 recorders that are more useful than Sony's newer recorders. So they are important despite being old. THE PROBLEM is that they auto update 4 times a day. Last summer they all got stuck on an update. Search re-tuning found all the usual channels, but dropped the picture and sound within a few seconds, despite being able to show the correct details of the programme being transmitted. Re-tuning attempts at different times of the day often found differing numbers of total channels. Sometimes I was able to re-tune successfully, but the next auto update would add any channels missed previously and the problem would return. Eventually I found a way round it by setting the units to record 2 minutes of TV at the update times of 03:00, 05:00, 10:00 and 14:00 (from 1 min before and 1 min after) which forced the units to not update. I delete these unwanted recordings daily usually. All good as long as I avoid filling the HDD. But last week the HDD became full (I was away) and it stuck on update again. Re-tuning several times this week always finds 168 channels and always causes the lost picture /sound problem. Tried Sony's firmware update advice without success. BUT here's the rub - Someone mentioned online that there appears to be some channels that cause the problem and that there may be a conflict for more than one transmitter source when auto re-tuning (or something to that effect). So I unplugged the aerial, started the auto re-tuning, let it get to 10% done then plugged the aerial in to allow the remaining channels to be received. It found 155 channels and hey presto - it now works again. So what is the explanation? What channels did I avoid in the first 10% search that must be where the problem arises? Still an issue, because I still have to force the unit not to update 4 times per day using my record 2 mins at each point routine.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated and happy to provide further info.
Steve
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J
js8:07 PM
Steve: Looks like you avoided these:
GIM
ONID.TSID = 233A.7401
522 MHz, uhf 27, 8 MHz, 16-QAM, 8k, 3/4, 1/32
Target Regions = (GBR.England.North West)U(GBR.Isle of Man)
(
LCN SID TYPE SERVICE NAME
062 7501 01 GREAT! tv +1
063 77C1 01 GREAT! romance +1
077 76C1 01 That's 60s MCR
080 7641 01 That's 70s MCR
086 7681 01 That's 80s MCR
087 7601 01 TV Warehouse
088 7701 01 TV Warehouse+1
)
Local Multiplex
ONID.TSID = 233A.800B
498 MHz, uhf 24, 8 MHz, QPSK, 8k, 3/4, 1/32
Target Regions = (GBR.England.North West.Manchester)
(
LCN SID TYPE SERVICE NAME
007 804B 01 That's TV
052 8500 01 GREAT! romance
061 8380 01 GREAT! movies +1
068 8540 01 RealityXtra
207 82C0 01 Tiny Pop
792 84C0 01 GREAT! tv
)
I think the problem comes from 062 GREAT! tv +1
I would try a manual scan of UHF channel 24 to verify that multiplex is safe.
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Saturday, 1 July 2023
S
Steve8:07 AM
js: Thanks js - Your diagnosis fits very well. Those are the 15 channels I have managed to avoid by chance. Unfortunately the Sony RDR HXD870 doesn't have the option to manually scan for digital channels to avoid UHF 24 (or 27). You can only tailor scanning on the analog tuning that is now obsolete. But at least I now know where the problem source lies and have a quirky way round it, as described previously. The only last question now is, who is responsible for the rogue channel(s) and do they know what effect it is having of what I presume is a vast number of Sony RDR HXD870 owners in the very large Winter Hill catchment? If you know how to let them know so they can resolve it properly, please do. Thanks - I'm very grateful as this has been bugging me for over 1 year now.
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J
js9:50 AM
Steve:
The fault has been there for an age; see this from Sunday, 4 September 2022:
Winter Hill (Bolton, England) Full Freeview transmitter | free and easy
Never got a reply from the poster.
As for who is responsible, according to an expert on DS:
"It is the broadcaster who ... provides the metadata for the EPG feed"
see
Series link regularly failing Digital Spy
Services used to have a "service provider" but on freeview this field is now empty.
What is called "default authority" is sort of equivalent to "service provider"
On freeview default_authority = "sonycrimechannel.co.uk" - not a lot of use.
The same service is on Freesat with the same faulty data but having default_authority = "great.tv"
A search for "great.tv" brought me to GREAT! tv - Great! Network | Great! TV
There is a "contact us" link on that page.
The fault is that all the CRIDs start with GTV1/ but should start with a slash.
If they removed GTV1 or preceded it with a slash, the CRIDs would be correct.
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S
Steve11:09 AM
js: Thanks - I may well explore this using your links, but I'll only post more info if I get anywhere. I'm thinking (suspiciously) that if the original broadcaster was Sony or related to Sony, they may be reluctant to correct it because the problem has most probably led to HXD870 users abandoning them and buying new Sony gear. I tried to do that a few years ago but I discovered that the newer Sony recorders only record in very high quality and only allow a quality reduction when you transfer from HDD to DVD. But that is done in real time so that writing three 1 hour drama episodes to a single DVD would take 3 hours, and not the current 15 minutes. I contacted Sony at the time who could only confirm their new recording approach. So in the absence of a decent replacement, I bought 2 used cheap HXD870 units off eBay. All done for now - Thanks again.
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S
Steve Donaldson11:52 AM
js: If the data is originating from the service provider incorrectly formatted then it is being passed along the chain of party(ies) (the company that runs the multiplex) and out the transmitter and over the airwaves. This must mean there is no validation check by those downstream because if there were then it would never find its way onto the air. (There is of course the question of whether it would be technically possible to have a program validate, which would have to analyse and either reject or correct the errors.)
"If" there were validation and it rejected the invalid data content then the EPG would be blank for the offending service and the service provider would soon sort out the problem... or maybe it wouldn't. But it would mean that it wouldn't be crippling pieces of equipment which are not at fault (unless the specification requires that it is the equipment that validates or deals with such sloppy errors).
Where there is an error in formatting/syntax then that data is therefore outside the specification and should never be fed into receiving devices. Thus, in such a situation different devices may behave differently: some will work fine, some will work after a fashion and others will freeze up. Because it's outside the specification then it can't be device fault. Does this apply here?
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J
js1:42 PM
Steve Donaldson: I agree with all you have said and yes, I think it does apply.
From the specification:
ETSI TS 102 323 V1.5.1 (2012-01)
Technical Specification
Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB);
Carriage and signalling of TV-Anytime information in DVB transport streams
From Page 28:
6.3 Default authority and abbreviated CRIDs
6.3.1 Abbreviated CRID rules
In certain situations described in the present document a CRID string may use the following abbreviated forms. These reduce the overhead of a CRID string by leaving out information that can be inferred from the location of the CRID entry.
Firstly, the characters "crid://" may be omitted from the start of the string so that the string starts with the first character of the CRID authority. So the example CRID:
crid://company.com/foobar
may be encoded as:
company.com/foobar
Additionally, within the scope of the definition of a default authority (see clause 6.3.2), the CRID authority part of the string may also be omitted if the CRID's authority matches the current value of default authority. In this case the string starts with the delimiter between CRID authority and data parts of the CRID (i.e. "/"). Therefore, the example CRID:
crid://company.com/foobar
may be encoded as:
/foobar
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S
Steve5:07 PM
js & Steve Donaldson. Hi both. I'll leave the technical stuff to your good selves. But just to add that in my case, as a result of having 3 identical recorders, I was able to know instantly that it was not the devices at fault. So I was able to choose to experiment to resolve the problem. Had I had only one (as will be the case for many owners) then I would probably have assumed it had broken and scrapped it, given the age. It makes me wonder how many owners have scrapped theirs unnecessarily! Whoever caused this problem ought to be informed if at all possible, so they can at least learn from it. Thanks for your interest.
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K
Karl5:32 PM
Steve: That's a great tip to avoid the background channel scans.
Do you find the EPG still populates and is usable when you do that, for example for setting timer recordings?
If CH24 is proving an issue in your case I wonder if a 'Stub' and possibly attenuation as well might help. Get it right and it can provide a high degree of attenuation.
Quarter-wave stub
I have a loft aerial (Group A from Blake) feeding a 4db two way amp in the loft. The feed to the lounge is passively split 3 ways (so about the equivalent of 6db attenuation on each feed) with each feed going to the TV, the Sony recorder and a Panasonic recorder. The Sony will still operate essentially normally on all main channels with a further 15 to 18db attenuation on its already split feed.
I'm 44km from Winter Hill but have no signal on CH24. Just looking and I have channels 29, 31, 32, 34, 37 and 40. Channel 37 is at a lower level (about 70% on the Sony) while all others are around 95%. As I say, stick a 15 or 18db attenuator in the feed and its all still OK.
Have you seen the mammoth thread on AV forums on these Sony's and the update issues?
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S
Steve Donaldson5:47 PM
Is this duff data carried on the main multiplexes, as in PSB1 to 3 and COM4 to 6? I thought that the EPG data for one multiplex was carried on all others so as to facilitate the building up of the programme guide and for programme delivery control with respect to recording devices.
But if Steve has managed to workaround the issue by preventing the Sony PVR from tuning in C24 and C27 then this implies that the data is not carried on the other, main multiplexes.
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