Hillsborough
Sheffield
S6 2LL
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you may experience reception problems, e.g. with certain MUXES disappearing.
First try rescanning your set top box and if this fails to work check on Transmitter work
or phone reception advice on 08700 100 123 (BBC) or 0844 881 4150 (ITV).
Winter Hill television transmitter was built in 1965 and is one of the most important in the UK as it serves much of Lancashire including the conurbations of Liverpool & Manchester.
The mast is located on the high ground 5 miles NW of Bolton and overlooks the “Cheshire plain”, thus giving it a coverage area stretching down as far as Crewe, Stoke and even Shrewsbury. It has the second greatest population coverage of any British TV transmitter at around 7 million people and its signals are received in many large towns/cities including Liverpool/Birkenhead, Manchester, Warrington, Preston and Blackpool. The high ground which the mast is built on was a contributory factor to the infamous plane crash on these moors in 1958, 35 people died and 7 survived. On a clear day much of the plain to the
South is visible and the views are stunning, from Rochdale in the East all the way round to Southport in the West.
Winter Hill mast is 309m high (a.g.l.) see How High is High ? That height combined with
the elevated site its transmitting antennas are the highest of any main television transmitter in the country at 718m. Only Holme Moss is higher than this (at 758m) but since 1984 that has only broadcast radio. Due to the mountainous terrain in the NW of England Winter Hill has a large number of repeater transmitters (79 of them) relaying the signal into the valleys and dips which do not have the critical “line of sight” reception path.
The design and height of the mast are similar to Waltham though the latter has only 4
sets of stays rather than the 5 of Winter Hill. Both are shorter versions of the Belmont
transmitter in Lincolnshire and coincidentally there is also a village called Belmont not
more than a mile from Winter Hill !
The transmitter is a horizontally polarised C/D group and puts out 500kW for the 4 main analogue stations, that is BIG power. C5 is also broadcast, but at only 12 kW.
Digital transmission power is 10kW, except for MUX3 which is only 5kW.
Since Winter Hill has not changed group (and provided you are in a reasonable reception area and/or have a good quality aerial installation) most people will probably get Freeview OK without having to change their aerial, see Winter Hill graph.
Below is the memorial to the 1958
plane crash. Pictures Justin Smith (ATV)
On the “Pre DSO” guide (above) note how MUXES 5 and 6 off Winter Hill would cause
co-
with Sutton Coldfields BBC2 and ITV !
Also see Winter Hill`s seventy nine smaller repeater transmitters.
On the “Post DSO” guide (below), large gaps in the spectrum -
Close up of the stays holding up Winter Hill transmitter. From a distance they look straight but this shot shows that their great weight introduces a significant “sag” to the cables. Picture Justin Smith (ATV)
Winter Hill television transmitter “up close”. Picture Justin Smith (ATV)
Winter Hill TV transmitter with the cairn (visible from the railway and the M61) in the foreground. Note the other communication transmitters present on this piece of high ground. Picture Justin Smith
See Winter Hill`s height in relation to other transmitters.
Winter Hill`s channels in relation to the UHF TV band and the gain curves of the aerials
we recommend for it. DM Log Log40 Yagi18C/D XB10E XB16E
Note the two MUXES on “Winter Hill B” and how they should still be receivable on a C/D in the vast majority of areas.
We recommend the DM log for strong signal areas, the Log 40 for medium signal areas,
the Yagi18CD or the XB10E for poor signal areas and the XB16E for those with the
most marginal signals. The dimensions and test performance of the antennas can be
found on the relevant tables. The prices of the aerials are on the Sales page.
In order to avoid co-
in this sector. Thus anyone living in a poor spot (within this area) may require an E group to receive the programmes on those particular MUXES. Some “sources” recommend a wideband but we`ve done the tests, and I`m telling you (and them) that a C/D will work
pretty well on CH40 & 43, see Winter Hill Graph. The bottom line is that if it doesn`t
work on a C/D, it`s unlikely to work with a wideband (of the same size aerial) either.
For those in this sector we recommend the same aerials as for Winter Hill.
DSO is due to occur in November 2009, when all of Winter Hill
will definitely revert to a C/D group !
For Winter Hill`s TV frequencies see its Channel Allocation Guides for before & after
the DSO. These also include the same information for other major (potentially)
co-
diagnosing causes of co-
spare channel for a modulated output (e.g. for a Sky box or CCTV system) to be added
to your TV setup/distribution system without suffering from co-
Winter Hill is visible from miles around and clearly in view of the roads and railway which
run a few miles to the South. The main road is the M61 from Preston to Manchester which was opened in stages between 1969 and 1970. The railway has a particularly interesting history as it was one of the first “inter city” lines opened way back in 1841 as the Bolton & Preston. After this it went through a bewildering number of owners, it became a North Union line in 1844, then the Lancashire & Yorkshire/London & North Western Joint in 1888, LMS (London, Midland & Scottish) in 1923 and then British Rail in 1948. And that was before
the farce of privatisation with Railtrack in 1994, the latter was sold off in 1996 before finally
being taken over by Network Rail in 2002 !
