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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Saturday, 20 April 2013
JamesT: Perhaps your communal aerial system needs adjustment to allow through C50 (BBC) and possibly also C49 (Pick TV, Dave etc). Seomtimes they are fitted with filters that only allow, from the aerial, channels used by the designated transmitter.
The discrepancy with the frequency in MHz shown for C54 is due to the negative offset on that channel from Winter Hill.
The "centre" of C54 is 738.000MHz. C54 with a negative offset is 0.2MHz (or 200kHz) below the "centre".
I'm not sure whether that makes any difference here, that is your TV may report that the signal is on 738MHz when it is infact a little lower.
The only thing I will say is that the HD multiplex (C54) uses DVB-T2 signal mode whereas all the other broadcasts (the standard definition ones) use DVB-T mode. So make sure that that is set correctly, if there is such an option.
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D
DebbieK3:34 PM
Thanks Dave. So basically we're stuffed. Our options are:
a) move house
b) add two storeys to our house, thus lifting the roof to the level of the houses up the hill
c) get a ridiculously long aerial pole
d) get freesat
e) get sky multiroom
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J
jb384:41 PM
DebbieK: Even although the signal may well have presently vanished as a direct result of the frequency changes etc, there is always a chance of it partially returning at some point in the next month or so as signal propagation is usually always affected by seasonal changes to the terrain, the effect of being far more noticeable in areas such as yours and where any signal that is being received is likely only to be through signal diffraction. (bending over objects such as hills)
Of course the problem there being, that even if the signal did return to a level that produces a picture its usually always of a short lived nature to the extent that it cannot be relied upon, Freesat being the mode that's virtually guaranteed to provide perfect subscription free reception for about 99.9% of the year, and with the only time not being for a few minutes at the most during a very heavy thundery type downpour, or alternatively in other instances during spells of heavy snow and where some may have accumulated in the bowl of the dish, this being easily cleared if the dish has been mounted within reach of a long brush handle.
By the way, in any Freesat installation where a dish is "not" being provided through a subscription, its always best policy to request that what's known as a "Zone 2" dish be fitted, as indeed is done as standard in Scottish regions, because by it being just that little bit larger it provides a slightly higher level of signal over that of Sky's standard (English region) Zone 1 types, this making it that little bit more resistant to being affected by heavy rain etc.
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DebbieK: It is probably best to see what an installer says when on site.
I am not saying that the aerial has to be at the height of the houses on the hill. My point is that as you tend away from that height there is more potential for difficulty.
The trick is to find a spot where all channels are good, and in situations such as yours that may be found to be more difficult. Evidently the lower frequency signal on C50 isn't as good as the others, where you aerial happens to be. But the aerial was put there before the C50 came one air.
As jb38 says, Freesat is one possibility.
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J
jb385:04 PM
JamesT: Purely on the issue of the frequency, you can quite safely ignore the difference referred to as this difference is well within the automatic frequency lock on range of the tuners fitted in all modern TV's or boxes, the precise frequency being given on this site only really being for information purposes, as other wise its neither here nor there because in Freeview devices it cannot be tuned with a decimal point anyway.
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D
DebbieK6:13 PM
jb38 & Dave Lindsay: thanks for all your advice guys, even though some of it is slightly more technical than my brain can handle :)
I appreciate you taking the time to assist.
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Sunday, 21 April 2013
S
Steve B10:56 AM
Manchester
I previously posted about my loss of channels on a communal system in an apartment block, not sure what work was done (if any) but they've all returned, M4 4AX.
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M
M diamond12:42 PM
Liverpool
Since the retune, myself and 4 of my neighbours cannot access certain channels especially BBC we have retuned and I live in apartments, some residents are ok but a cluster of us have problems. The post code is L23 6TQ the Ariel is on the roof. We have all had assistance in trying to retune but it is now a problem we cannot resolve ourselves.
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M diamond: The common factor is the aerial system which may be the responsibility of your landlord. Some communal aerial systems require adjustment following the change.
Those using satellite (Sky or Freesat perhaps) will not be affected by the issue you and others are experiencing.
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J
jb389:38 PM
Phil C Chester: Thanks for the update, the content of being inclined to suggest that although you might well be receiving COM5 (Ch49) its not necessarily with a surplus of strength, as 50 / 60% could be considered to be slightly on the low side and especially where the quality is concerned, as ideally it should be much higher than the strength, this being where I would like you to try a further test.
The angle I am getting at is, that its undeniable that the BBC channel is down in "certain" areas compared to what it previously was on Ch62, although I am inclined to put this down to the differences in propagation that exist between frequencies, but though still something which would appear worse by any deficiency that might exist with the aerial system being used.
My reason for saying this being, that Winter Hills channel span before the recent retune was Ch's 54 - 62, and with this range being more than adequately catered for by a group C/D aerial (identified by green blanking plug on end of aerial) which has an operating range of between Ch's 48 - 68 thereby giving an ideal overlap at each end of Winter Hills channel span, whereas the channel span now of 49 - 59 results in the aerial having virtually no overlap worth talking about at its lower end, and of course an aerials reception efficiency is always slightly lower near to each end of its operating range and especially so at the lower frequency end, something which would obviously be detrimental to an already low Ch50.
This being where the aforementioned further test referred to comes into the equation, as I would like you to carry out a signal level check on the following channels but using the "manual tune" procedure which in effect uses the receivers tuner as a signal meter, the method being to enter the tuning menu / manual tune and enter the mux channel number to be tested but NOT being followed by pressing the search or scan button, as the signal level of the mux channel should be seen as soon as the number is entered, make a note of the levels seen and then enter the next channel number and so on, this being a more accurate way of assessing a situation.
Channels to test (in COM order) being: 50 - 59 - 54 (if you have HD) - 58 - 49 - 55.
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