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Sheffield
S6 2LL
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Winter Hill television transmitter was built in 1965 by British Insulated Callender`s Cables (or B.I.C.C) who were responsible for much of the infrastructure built in this country from 1945 up to the 1980s. The company is still going but now called Balfour Beatty.
The transmitter was originally owned by the ITA then it was sold off to NTL and finally to Arquiva (sic). Winter Hill is one of the most important transmitters in the UK and is located on the high ground 5 miles NW of Bolton overlooking 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.) -
The elevated site means 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 (67 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 !
Right is a Log Periodic aerial mounted at an unusual angle (on the roof of Winter Hills base station) so as to align with the transmitter nearly 300m above it !
Below is the memorial to the 1958
plane crash. Pictures Justin Smith (ATV)
Winter Hill transmitter`s Channel Allocation Guide*. Note the gaps in the table below for channels 31 to 37 and 61 to 68, they`re reserved for “other uses”........
Also see Winter Hill`s sixty seven smaller repeater transmitters.
The frequencies given are for (most) digital MUXES, for analogue channels deduct 3MHz.
* There are a few retune events (temporary MUX reallocations) just before and after DSO which may not be shown on these tables.
Note Storeton Wales which started transmitting in October 2009. This broadcasts Welsh Language MUXES (from Moel Y Parc) in a tight 30 degree arc around Flint.
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.
Winter Hill television transmitter “up close”.
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.
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 DY14WB XB16E
Also see other relevant C/D group curves.
Winter Hill Transmitter OS Grid Ref SD 660 144
Note, as work takes place on various digital transmitters (to prepare for the DSO) you may experience problems, e.g. with certain MUXES disappearing. First try rescanning your TV / set top box (do it manually if possible), but if this fails to work check on transmitter work or call the reception advice phone numbers. Also see basic digital fault finding.
Winter Hill is the (joint) eighth most powerful transmitter in the UK.
Note the huge increase in power after the switchover.
Winter Hill`s MUXES 4 to 6 will suffer a slight reduction in error correction data from the 24 Jan 12
Winter Hill transmitter is horizontally polarised and it is a C/D group, see Winter Hill graph.
For Winter Hill we recommend the DM log for strong signal areas, the Log 40 for
medium signal areas, the Yagi18CD* or the DY14WB for poor signal areas, and the XB16E for those with the most marginal signals. The dimensions and test performance of the aerials can be found on the relevant tables. If requiring a “high gain aerial” in the loft we recommend the DY14WB over the XB16 because of the former aerial`s smaller size.
* See "covering all eventualities"
There are three (the only TX which has three) interleaved spectrum channels allocated to Winter Hill on CH56, CH57 & CH60. All three are within the C/D group. In addition there is a possibility of 2 or 3 more MUXES being transmitted between CHs 31 and 37, though some of these may not be available off a C/D group particularly in poor signal areas, fortunately there are alternatives.
For Winter Hill`s TV frequencies see its channel allocation guide. This also includes
the same information for other major (potentially) 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 !
External Links
Winter Hill transmitter page at MB21
Winter Hill transmitter page at The Big Tower
Winter Hill transmitter page on Wikipedia
Digital UK Winter Hill transmitter
Digital UK details of Granada transmitters
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