Freeview: Winter Hill (Bolton, England) Full Freeview transmitter
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Full Freeview on the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter

Google StreetviewGoogle mapBing mapGoogle Earth53.625,-2.516 or 53°37'30"N 2°30'56"WBL6 6SL

4G at 800MHz (at800) Freeview reception issues

When 800MHz 4G mobile broadband services start there will be 1 multiplex in the higher risk range (C21-23, C30, C59-60): C59: D3+4
See How do I know if the 4G broadband will overload my Freeview? and Full UK map of 4G issue areas for details.

Transmitter faults and engineering works

WINTER HILL transmitter - Over the next week Winter Hill main transmitter: TV (digital) Liable to interruption, Radio (analogue) working normally, Radio (digital) working normally. Digital tick


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The symbol shows the location of the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter which serves 2,690,000 homes.

Other maps:Winter Hill DABWinter Hill AM/FMWinter Hill regionBBC North WestGranada

Radiation patterns

Radiation patterns withheld

Map key

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.


List by multiplex|List by channel number|List by channel name|See terrain plot

Winter Hill transmitter Freeview broadcasts

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.

MuxAerial positionFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 horizontal max
C50 (706.0MHz)726m64QAM 8K 2/3
24.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2		100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One North West, 2 BBC Two England, 7 BBC Three, 9 BBC Four, 70 CBBC Channel, 71 CBeebies, 80 BBC News, 81 BBC Parliament, 301 301, plus 12 others

PSB2
D3+4
 horizontal max
C59 (778.0MHz)726m64QAM 8K 2/3
24.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2		100,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV (Granada), 4 Channel 4 North ads, 5 Channel 5 The North ads, 6 ITV 2, 13 Channel 4+1 North ads, 14 More 4, 28 E4, 33 ITV +1 (Granada),

PSB3
BBCB
 horizontal max
C54- (737.8MHz)726m256QAM 32KE 2/3
40.2Mb/s DVB-T2 MPEG4		100,000W
Channel icons
101 BBC One HD (England no regional news), 102 BBC Two HD (England), 103 ITV HD (ITV Granada), 104 Channel 4 HD North ads, plus 1 others

COM4
SDN
 horizontal max
C58 (770.0MHz)726m64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2		100,000W
Channel icons
10 ITV 3, 20 G.O.L.D. (not free), 25 Dave ja vu, 26 Home (not free), 27 ITV 2 +1, 30 5*, 31 5USA, 34 ESPN UK (not free), 38 Quest, 39 The Zone, 44 Channel 5 +1, 72 CITV, plus 22 others

COM5
ArqA
 horizontal max
C49 (698.0MHz)726m64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2		100,000W
Channel icons
11 PICK TV, 12 Dave, 17 Really, 29 E4+1, 32 Movie Mix, 46 Challenge, 48 Food Network, 82 Sky News, 87 Community Channel, plus 9 others

COM6
ArqB
 horizontal max
C55 (746.0MHz)726m64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2		100,000W
Channel icons
15 Film 4, 18 4Music, 19 Yesterday, 21 VIVA, 24 ITV 4, 41 Sky Sports 1 (not free), 42 Sky Sports 2 (not free), 47 4seven, 83 Al Jazeera English, 85 RT English , plus 21 others

MEN
 horizontal -20dB
C57 (762.0MHz)0mQSPK 8K 1/2
6.0Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2		1,000W
Channel icons
51 Movies4Men, 52 Movies4Men +1, 53 Sony SAB TV Asia, 56 Capital TV, plus 2 others



Regional news from the Winter Hill transmitter


BBC North West Tonight 3.1m homes 11.7%
from Salford M50 2QH, 22km southeast
to BBC North West region - 90 masts.

ITV Granada Reports 3.1m homes 11.6%
from Salford M50 2EQ, 22km southeast
to ITV Granada region - 80 masts.

How the transmission frequencies change over time

years1956~851984-971997-981998-20092009-1310/4/13-2013-182019-
aerial groupVHFC/D EC/D EC/D EC/D EC/D EWK
C9ITV
C12BBCtv
C22SDN
C25ArqA
C28ArqB
600C31com7
C37com8
C39BBCB
C42D3+4
C45BBCA
C48C5C5
700C49 ArqAArqA
C50 BBCABBCA
C54-BBCB-BBCB-BBCB
C55BBC1BBC1BBC1ArqBArqBArqB
C56+1local
C57MENMENMEN
C58SDNSDNSDN
C59ITVITVITVD3+4D3+4D3+4
C60+C
800C61ArqA
C62BBC2BBC2BBC2BBCA
C63+D
C65C4C4C4
C66+2
C67+B
C68+A

orange background for multiplexes names moregreen background for transmission frequencieslilac background for power levels in watts800MHz band: 4G mobile to start in 2013700MHz band: possible 4G in 2019 more600MHz band: new or moved digital TV services more
Notes: + and - denote 166kHz offset; aerial group are shown as A B C/D E K W
Italics for analogue, digital switchover was Wednesdays 4th November and 2nd December 2009.

  • Ofcom have projected that a local television service for Manchester including Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport could use an Interleaved Frequency on the Winter Hill transmitter using C56
  • Ofcom have projected that a local television service for Liverpool including St Helens, Widnes, Wigan, Wirral could use an Interleaved Frequency on the Winter Hill transmitter using C56
  • Ofcom have projected that a local television service for Preston including Blackpool could use an Interleaved Frequency on the Winter Hill transmitter using C56
  • COM7, COM8 projected for 2013-16. COM7 and COM8 to operate as Saddleworth,Storeton, Winter Hill SFN.

Comparison of old analogue and current digital signal levels

Analogue 1-4 500kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB, com7, com8, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 100kW
Analogue 5(-16dB) 12.5kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-17dB) 10kW
MEN(-27dB) 1000W

History of Channel 3 in the Winter Hill transmitter area

May 1956-Jul 1968Granada Television†
May 1956-Jul 1968Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Dec 2014Granada Television
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV Daybreak•
• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only.


Your comments: most recent posts are at the bottom

firstFirst comments prevEarlier comments  ◊  Later commentsnext Latest commentslast

Your comments are always welcome. Please use the form below to add your thoughts or questions to this page. We will get back to you as soon as we can.

Mike Dimmick
Monday 24 May 2010 2:38PM Reading
Mark Borton: your setup must be substandard in some way. If it's 1% out from perfect reception you still get a perfect picture, because one-third of the information transmitted is redundant. It's only when all this redundancy is used up that things start to go wrong.

If you're using the Winter Hill transmitter - and you probably are - you have already switched over. There are no longer any analogue signals from Winter Hill and the power has already been turned up (except for the ArqB mux).

If Freeview worked very well for you before switchover, you may well now have too much signal. If you have a Humax PVR or another box with a Philips TD1316 twin-tuner, and the signal strength displayed is over 50%, it's probably too large. Take out any boosters you have, and if that doesn't help or you didn't have a booster, try adding an attenuator. Can you let us know what model of set-top box or integrated digital TV you have, and the signal strength it's displaying?
Martin, Macclesfield
Monday 24 May 2010 8:53PM
I have a Humax 9200 PVR. Lots of trouble during and after switchover. Eventually, in January, after another factory reset all was well again with my wonderful box -until two weeks ago. The box recorded the same programme twice. I recorded Ashes to Ashes on Friday night. It recorded it twice and listed each recording as Grandpa In My Pocket! (CBeebies). Anyone else had any problems? Could it have anything to do with HD transmissions?
Mike Foster
Monday 24 May 2010 9:58PM Stoke-on-trent
Thanks Briantist,for reply re leafy trees.I'm just puzzled why all the BBC channels can penetrate the leaf cover,but others can't.As to a taller mast,problem is we have a bungalow,the pole would need to be another 3 or 4 metres taller.
steve lee
Tuesday 25 May 2010 9:57AM
lost lots of tv channels i did have 96 but its gone down to 48 all it keeps saying is software update
whats going on ? you cant be updating the software for since friday night
joanne denise mcmullen
Tuesday 25 May 2010 10:17AM Wallasey
i keep getting wales instead of northwest ,i have retuned a number of times ;but nothing changes.since i have been getting wales 'i getno signal in the middle of programmes and the picture just goes .can anyone tell me whats going on.
Mike Dimmick
Tuesday 25 May 2010 2:52PM
joanne denise mcmullen: probably you're close enough to the Welsh transmitters for the box to pick them up, and you have one of the boxes which stores whichever version it finds first rather than whichever is strongest.

Please see www.ukfree.tv link icon Digital Region Overlap | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice (RG47SH)
G0PVR
Tuesday 25 May 2010 4:43PM
RE HUMAX FREEVIEW HD BOXES.
if you are getting the welsh broadcast from moel-y-parc, and want english winter hill tv, simple do a manual tune, but only tune chanels 54-62 inclusive...that will sort it out!
Michael
Wednesday 26 May 2010 10:42AM Manchester
Thanks, Mike, that's v useful for future scheduling. It also explains why reviews say "possibly 3" recordings: I assume it means the 3rd temporary recording must also be on one of the other 2 Mux.
Could you also clarify that if you use this facility, you can watch the whole recording so long as you start a couple of minutes before it finishes? Thanks again.
vicki
Wednesday 26 May 2010 6:24PM Chester
hi, my signal on 59 is no signal today, just suddenly happened yday...anyone else having these problems as i now hv no itv1, itv2, e4, ch4, ch5 etc.......

says no work being carried out at winter hill so not sure why....would appreciate it if anyone else having probs in chester area would post and let me know..thanks
andy
Wednesday 26 May 2010 9:04PM Chester
Hi Vicki no problems in Chester are you near the cycle track by any trees. Andy
Stuart Owens
Thursday 27 May 2010 1:19AM Wrexham
Hi.
Is it possible to see a coverage area map just of the MEN multiplex from Winter Hill?
I was wondering due to the very low power as to if it only serves the Greater Manchester area?
Thanks,
Stuart.
Briantist
Thursday 27 May 2010 5:44AM
Stuart Owens: The multiplex is on an "interleaved frequency" that has a limited coverage area limited to Greater Manchester.
Briantist
Thursday 27 May 2010 6:39AM
Stuart Owens: DPSA=digital preferred service area
vicki
Thursday 27 May 2010 10:00AM Chester
briantist...not near cycle track but live in area with trees...what my concern is that the problem suddenly happened 72 hours ago....it was perfect until then...regardless of the trees..hence am wondering if something has been dislodged on the aerial..perhaps by birds.

the signal goes from poor to very good if you manually search - you can actually see the signal going up and down rapidly ...have had to retune itv channels to 49 which is a low signal from local welsh transmitter...but at least its giving a signal

many thanks for your assistance
vicki
Thursday 27 May 2010 10:02AM Chester
apologies ..andy , did not read name.pls excuse.
ste
Monday 31 May 2010 10:27PM
I live in cheshire and our signal disappeared for 3 tv's on Friday/Saturday, since then only limited channels will tune in.. i.e. 13 but then show pixels and keep freezing. We have checked the aerial etc. The one tv in my sons room that is only on an internal area still tunes into everything fine.
Briantist
Monday 31 May 2010 10:31PM
ste: Can you check the www.ukfree.tv link icon Freeview reception has changed? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice .

If you have an amplifier in the system somewhere, it might have blow a fuse.

Did the signal "just go" or did it deteriorate?
vicki
Wednesday 2 June 2010 8:28PM Chester
in ref to ste's post of 31 may mine is similar problem really ...the signal shows pixels then goes off....thats on channel 59 - i wonder if everyone is having this problem. are you near chester at all ? ours just seems to hv suddenly gone this way following the heatwave , literally overnight
vicki
Wednesday 2 June 2010 8:38PM Chester
btw we have a new aerial wideband with masthead amp and signal booster in living room...yet the signal has gone from excellent to poor suddenly in the last wk only on the mux2 channels itv1, itv2 etc..bbc channels are all perfect as before..
andy
Wednesday 2 June 2010 8:55PM Chester
How new is the aerial Vicki, if under 12 months old, call the rigger back.
vicki
Wednesday 2 June 2010 9:07PM
installed in october so have called - it's just frustrating waiting for them to arrange to come and check the installation- ...hopefully they will get to us in the next week ...thank you
Tom Wright
Tuesday 8 June 2010 10:20AM
Just moved into a flat near Salford Central Station. Can get all freeview channels apart from the BBC and free Sky ones. Really annoying me now as i've tried manual searches and retuning. I have a feeling it may be down to the aerial. However the block is only 7 years old so I wouldn't expect it. Any ideas. Does anyone else live in M3 and can't get BBC channels?
Lynda
Tuesday 8 June 2010 6:21PM
Just bought a freeview box and when i turn it on it says 'Antenna power overload detected'. Will this affect the picture on the channels as i have a lot of channels breaking up or will i just need to move my aerial to obtain a better signal
Briantist
Wednesday 9 June 2010 6:54AM
Lynda: No, your problem is not too little signal, but too much.

You will need to buy a small, inexpensive device called an attenuator.

For example:
Attenuator : Maplin Electronics
.
Briantist
Wednesday 9 June 2010 6:59AM
Tom Wright: Not sure exactly, but you might be using the local relay transmitter rather than Winter Hill.
David Carroll
Monday 14 June 2010 11:19PM
No signal forany of the ITV Channels.
No work being reported on the Winter Hill transmitter.
Any suggestions?
Briantist
Wednesday 16 June 2010 5:44AM
David Carroll: Please can you see Single frequency interference | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice ?
ROBERT PLANT
Friday 25 June 2010 6:43AM
hi briantist,

do i need to install any updates/add ons towindows 7 media centre as i did with windows vista to get all features on freeview.

robert
Briantist
Friday 25 June 2010 7:16AM
ROBERT PLANT: No, you don't, but there are a few minor updates for Windows Media Centre in Windows Update.
ROBERT PLANT
Friday 25 June 2010 5:32PM
hi brian,

thanks for that, and i have auto update on so all should be ok.

robert.
Briantist
Friday 25 June 2010 8:28PM
ROBERT PLANT: Yes, you should have no problems. I know plenty of people who have W7 Media Centre.

If you have multiple PCs at home, you can also network the TV recordings, which is very useful.
Richard
Tuesday 29 June 2010 11:55AM Holywell
Hi
Hope you can help
My set up is that the signal from the aerial is split via a booster to 2 televisions. On one I have a PVR 9300T whilst on the other a F2 FOX T. Essentially, the problem is that the signal appears strong enough for the F2 FOX T to decode all the range of channels available whilst the PVR 9300t can't cope with the weaker signal on Channel 55 and seems recently to be having intermittent problems with the BBC group on Channel 62. My postcode is CH8 9BQ but because of geography I get my signal from Winter Hill rather than Moel y Parc. Switching the boxes around doesn't work as the tv connected to the F2 FOX T is always ok whilst the one attached to the PVR 9300T isn't. Any observations and or solutions? Do you think a booster would help be it set back or mast head? I've done all the usual things such as making sure software is up to date and doing a number of default settings.
Malbro
Thursday 1 July 2010 7:21PM
Briantist: Re your listings above - Dave ja vu now on WH COM5/ArqA C61.
I presume it's moved to accommdate Al Jazeera.
D
Thursday 1 July 2010 8:07PM
Hi,
My TV's just done a automatic update and I'm now looking at BBC1 Wales, ITV1 Wales and S4/C (the welsh version of channel 4)... problem I have is that I live in East Cheshire and am at least 2 hours away from the Welsh borders!! Does anyone have any ideas why this is happening and how it can be fixed? Should I be investing in a Welsh/English dictionary?

Cheer in advance.
Malbro
Thursday 1 July 2010 8:55PM
D: You're picking up signals from Moel-y-Parc, which your TV is storing first because the channels are lower down the scale (45,48,49,51,52) than Winter Hill (55,58,59,61,62 [and 54 if you have HD]).
The standard way round it is to remove the aerial lead from the TV (or Set-Top Box) then do a factory re-set or new installation scan to clear the system, then start the scan process again and put the aerial back in when it's passed Channel 52 or put the aerial back in and do a manual scan on the Winter Hill channels listed above.
michael
Friday 2 July 2010 8:38AM
Automatic update can be a real bane! Some receivers allow this facility to be disabled.
If yours does, disable it once you have tuned in the channels you want. Others will retune relentlessly, requiring frequent retuning as outlined above... If this is the case and there is a Scart socket on the TV, it might be worth considering a separate set-top box which does not have the automatic update feature!
Tony
Friday 2 July 2010 11:29PM
I had a message on my tv screen yesterday July 1st advising that if I wished to continue to be able to view Dave Ja Vu channel I would need to retune my freeview box. I have tried several re-tunes but cannot now not receive the channel in question. All other channels are ok. Any suggestions please as to how I can get this channel back?
stuart clarke
Sunday 4 July 2010 2:16PM
on friday DAVE was telling you needed to re-tune your freeview boxes .
i done mine + hove now lost a load of channels + everything has gone welsh.
i lost granada + c4 this has now changed to itv wales + s4c.
i am right on welsh border + would like my english channel back.
this has happend also on week of change over i re-tuned my box + everythin was almost almost right (just had bbc wales as main bbc) but all other channels were correct
KMJ,Derby
Sunday 4 July 2010 5:45PM
stuart clarke: By far the best way of finding the correct channels in overlap areas is to do a manual tune for each of the required muxes.For Winter Hill these are C62-,C59,C58,C61- and C55. If you do not have a manual tuning facility do a scan with the aerial unplugged to clear the channel list, then begin a second scan with the aerial unplugged,reinserting the aerial plug at around C53.If the Wales signals are from Moel-Y-Parc these will have been left out of the scan.(this does not work if Storeton Wales is the signal source) A few freeview boxes allow the viewer to select their prefered region.
Rob
Monday 5 July 2010 3:11PM
Hi Stuart,

What does the - sign after the CH number mean? I'm having difficulty obtaining a good signal quality on CH61/62 on my setup in the IOM, the other channels seem fine?
Mike Dimmick
Monday 5 July 2010 5:16PM
Rob: the - indicates that the transmission is offset 166kHz below the 'proper' frequency for this channel number. Your box should be able to work this out for itself, but if not, try 801833 kHz (or 801834) rather than 802000.

There are some boxes made by Vestel (rebranded as various others) that had trouble with negative offsets in 8k mode, with their original software:

help.digitaluk.co.uk link icon Error page

The ArqB mux on C62 is currently on very low power until sometime next year, so you may have difficulty receiving it simply due to distance. (RG47SH)
Dave
Tuesday 6 July 2010 8:44AM
My parents live in the Winter Hill region and have a HD TV with a digital tuner (LG LH3000), however the Auto set-up feature doesn't seem to pick up the HD channels. Can anyone offer a suggestion as to how to resolve this?
Mike C
Tuesday 6 July 2010 11:33AM
Dave - your parents LG LH3000 maybe HD ready - but it is not a Freeview HD receiver as far as I can tell - you need a separate set top box that is Freeview HD capable or a TV that itself has an integral Freeview HD receiver inbuilt to receive HD Freeview via rooftop AERIAL.

If your parents had a separate set top box that is Freesat HD capable - this would need a satellite dish to pick up th relevant signal (not a rooftop AERIAL)- their tv would pick up HD via this route

The whole scenario is confusing to say the least to people who are non tecchie - and even for the tecchies it can get confusing
Dave
Tuesday 6 July 2010 4:20PM
Hi Mike and thanks for your reply. According to the Owners manual, the TV has a HD receiver.
QUOTE:
HD RECEIVER SETUP
■ This TV can receive Digital RF/Cable signals without an external digital set-top box. However, if you do receive
Digital signals from a digital set-top box or other digital external device, refer to the diagram as shown below.
UNQUOTE
Mike C
Wednesday 7 July 2010 11:30AM
Dave - it says it receives digital signals = Freeview - that is normal 'digital' - this is not the same as HD. Your tv may be capable of receiving HD signals - but it has to be from a box capable of receiving HD signals. HD signals need to be received by a tv or set top box enabled to receive specifically FREEVIEW HD (these have only just come onto the market) or a FREESAT HD enabled tv - this latter via a satellite dish (not aerial).
Dave
Wednesday 7 July 2010 4:12PM
Hi Mike,
Thanks, yes, I understand the distinction, however the quoted paragraph is headed "HD Receiver set-up", so I believe it is capable of receiving a Freeview HD signal - it was certainly advertised as such. I'm in the process of contacting LG to confirm this.
John
Thursday 8 July 2010 9:20AM
I am getting a terrible echoing on ITV adverts.
This happens when AD (audio description) is on.
It happens on two tv's with different freeview access.
Does anyone have a solution other than turning off AD which makes the whole point of having AD useless as I am blind.
Linda Grimshaw
Friday 9 July 2010 5:59PM Manchester
all channels on mux D very low and constantly pixelated which I notice is running very low from Winter Hill does this have anything to do with Arqiva B operating at 12.5kW until 2011 will this be corrected and have to wait till after this date to receive all channels
Transmitter engineering
Monday 12 July 2010 9:09AM
WINTER HILL transmitter - Over the next week Winter Hill main transmitter: TV (digital) Liable to interruption, Radio (analogue) working normally, Radio (digital) working normally. [DUK]
Transmitter engineering
Monday 12 July 2010 9:09AM
WINTER HILL transmitter - Over the next week Winter Hill main transmitter: TV (digital) Liable to interruption, Radio (analogue) working normally, Radio (digital) working normally. [DUK]
Peter Simpson
Wednesday 14 July 2010 7:40PM
This web site says that Winter Hill has no reported problems.

However, after a period when the BBC signals on PSB1 were the most reliable, just recently we have found that in bad weather it is these BBC channels which drop out whilst the rest remain OK.

Does anyone know if in fact they are transmitting at a lower wattage at the moment or if they have made any other changes to transmission from this MUX recently



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.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

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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