Full Freeview on the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 53.625,-2.516 or 53°37'30"N 2°30'56"W |  | BL6 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 29/05/2023 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.
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.
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?
BBC North West Tonight 3.1m homes 11.8%
from Salford M50 2QH, 22km southeast (139°)
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 TV region BBC North West GranadaWhich companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Winter Hill transmitter area
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Friday, 12 February 2021
C
Chris.SE4:05 AM
Oliver:
It depends on which Group K aerial you have. There are some that have quite a good response at C55 and some that can give a better overall response than T or Wideband BUT not all Group K are like that! You can find examples at ATV aerial gain tests : full results - A.T.V. Poles, Brackets, Clamps & Aerials
Make sure you don't have any HDMI leads near any of your flyleads or aerial leads especially if those aerial or flyleads are not the high quality double screened types. HDMI is known to cause interference in some cases, especially to C55.
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Friday, 19 February 2021
Transmitter engineering
10:18 PM
10:18 PM
WINTER HILL transmitter - DAB: Slightly reduced power due to a fault from 19 Feb 21:21 until 19 Feb 21:34. . [BBC]
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Wednesday, 24 February 2021
J
Joanne Porteous3:22 PM
Since the high winds yesterday 23/02/21 I only have sound on the TV. There are colourful vertical stripes on the screen, but no picture. What has happened please? The TV aerial is pointing to Winter Hill and seems ok. I do not have Sky or a set top box of any kind.
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Transmitter engineering
4:27 PM
4:27 PM
WINTER HILL transmitter - DAB: Slightly reduced power due to a fault from 19 Feb 21:21 until 19 Feb 21:34. . FM: Broadcasting in mono due to essential engineering from 24 Feb 13:06 until 24 Feb 13:10. . [BBC]
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C
Chris.SE7:02 PM
Joanne Porteous:
Is this affecting every single TV channel, or just some and if so which ones?
Have a look in your TV's tuning section for where it may give the signal strength and quality figures for each UHF channel carrying the different multiplexes. You may find it under manual tuning if there isn't a specific location for signal strength.
Post that information.
If your aerial is still pointing in the correct direction, does it look as if it has any bits missing? Compare to similar neighbours' aerials perhaps. is the coax downlead secured to the pole and any other places, or is it flapping in the wind?
There is essential Planned Engineering taking place at Winter Hill which may have some effect if you are not in a good signal area. A full postcode would be needed to look at predicted reception for your locale.
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Thursday, 4 March 2021
Transmitter engineering
1:38 PM
1:38 PM
WINTER HILL transmitter - DAB: Slightly reduced power due to a fault from 4 Mar 12:56 until 4 Mar 13:04. . [BBC]
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Wednesday, 17 March 2021
A
Anthony11:28 AM
I've checked on Freeview website and there is maintenance on Winter Hill this week with Possible Service Interruption indicated. My channels keep briefly going off occasionally and coming back on during the day but not in the evening though.
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C
Chris.SE8:32 PM
Anthony:
They do try and avoid interruptions at peak times, but it's not always possible.
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Saturday, 17 July 2021
J
Jim Davies11:28 AM
Poor clarity on the sound on all channels from Winter Hill. This is in particular to speech where the sound sounds muffled. Have a number of sets, Sony, Panasonic LG and same problem on all. Sound on Moel-y-parc is fine. This has only happened since the channel shift earlier in the year. I know of other people on the Wirral experiencing the same problem
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J
Jim Davies11:32 AM
Problems with clarity of speech being muffled on all channels on Winter Hill xmtr. Being experienced on a number of different sets - Sony, Panasonic and LG
I know of other people on the Wirral experiencing this problem which has only occurred since the channel frequency changes earlier this year. Moel-y-parc does not suffer this problem.
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