Winter Hill transmitting station

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox UK Transmitter The Winter Hill transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications site on Winter Hill, at the south eastern boundary of the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England, and above Bolton. It is owned and operated by Arqiva.

Height

The original mast at Winter Hill was a Template:Convert tower that came into service on 3 May 1956, and carried the programmes of Granada Television (weekdays) and ABC Weekend Television. In 1966 services were transferred to a new higher mast erected adjacent to the original tower. The main mast structure is Template:Convert tall and has a diameter of Template:Convert. During the period of parallel digital and analogue transmissions, the DTT antenna attached to the top of the mast brought the overall height to Template:Convert,<ref name="ChorleyCC">Chorley Council - Planning Applications - Ref: 07/00056/FUL</ref> however as part of the Digital Switchover plans, this antenna has now been removed, reducing its overall height to Template:Convert.<ref name="ChorleyCC"/> It is one of the tallest structures in the United Kingdom, the tallest being Skelton mast; however, at Template:Convert above sea level, Winter Hill has the highest television transmitting antenna in the United Kingdom and is higher than Green Hill, the highest hill in Lancashire.

Construction

File:Winter Hill TV Mast.jpg

A view of the mast from beneath, illustrating the tubular structure

Unlike most masts, which are of a lattice design, Winter Hill mast is of a tubular construction. Five other masts in England share this design (Belmont, Bilsdale, Mendip, Waltham and the original ill-fated structure at Emley Moor).

Support wires, to hold the mast vertical, are pitched at 120° when viewed from above. These are connected at five heights, giving 15 supports in total. These wires have been strengthened, and Template:Convert of dampening chains have been fitted by Arqiva (then NTL Broadcast) to reduce the oscillations caused by high winds that were a factor in the collapse of Emley Moor's original structure in 1969. During 2007 - 2009, the mast was strengthened to allow the installation of the new heavier digital transmission aerials.<ref>The Transmission Gallery - Winter Hill</ref> Its ropes weigh 85 tons, made by British Ropes, with steel from Steel, Peech and Tozer of Templeborough in southern Yorkshire. The column weighs 210 tons and has 375 segments, with steel from United Steel Companies at Scunthorpe in northern Lincolnshire.<ref>Times Friday 10 September 1965, page 9</ref>

Maintenance

An advantage of the tubular design is that engineers can ascend the inside of the mast and avoid adverse weather, which is a problem on frame structures. Maintaining the outside of the mast is typically performed using a bosun's chair.

The mast has always had a series of red aircraft warning lights but in October 2006 these lights were substantially brightened making the mast far more visible to passing aircraft. These lights can be maintained from the inside, as the lamps swing inwards for maintenance.

Eight external platforms encircle the mast along its height. These can be accessed from the inside of the mast, and are used to maintain the supporting wires, and the ILR antennas.

Coverage

{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= Template:Ambox }} The station's coverage includes approximately 6.3 million people. The coverage area is for mainly Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Lancashire, Cheshire and southern Cumbria along parts of Derbyshire, Staffordshire and North Yorkshire. Relay transmitters are needed around eastern Manchester, northern Lancashire and the Wirral peninsula. The transmitter also covers the North Wales coastal areas and although not the 'correct' television region, it is the preferred region for some in North Wales, mainly because it carries Channel 4 (as opposed to S4C, however since digital switchover Channel 4 is also available on all Welsh transmitters), Channel 5 and a much more powerfulTemplate:Quantify digital terrestrial output than the Welsh transmitters. The region's ITV franchisees, Granada Television (weekdays only until 1968) and ABC Weekend TV (launched in 1956), were on air much earlier than North Wales' franchisee, WWN (Teledu Cymru) which launched in 1962 (subsequently HTV Wales) giving viewers more choice than they would with the Welsh transmissions. ABC Television lost its franchise in 1968, when Granada Television commenced broadcasting seven days a week. Since the digital switchover, the Welsh transmitters are broadcasting DTT at a much higher power and Channel 4, and Channel 5 are now included in the line-up. However, because of the terrain and the rough landscapes of North Wales, many have likely stayed with Winter Hill, not least because small local relays only broadcast a limited range of multiplexes with a reduced number of channels.

Output

File:Winter Hill Main Mast.jpg

High resolution vertical panorama of the main mast

Television

Digital

Winter Hill is the principal transmitter for the North West region (formerly Granada ITV region) and in 2009 it became the first in the UK to broadcast digital television in high definition.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Winter Hill's 700MHz clearance will end on 10 February 2020 when, somewhat surprisingly, Winter Hill will become an A group (excluding MUX 7 which are due to be switched off before the end of 2020 anyway). Because the A group is the opposite end of the band from Winter Hill's C/D, people with original C/D group aerials in poor signal areas may struggle to pick up the signal (see Winter Hill graph).

Only four of the 70 Winter Hill relays broadcast six digital multiplexes (Lancaster, Saddleworth, Pendle Forest and Storeton). All the others broadcast just the three public service multiplexes BBC A, BBC B and D3&4. Winter Hill also broadcasts a Manchester multiplex on Channel 27Template:Citation needed.

Present channels

These were moved around until February 2020 due to the 700MHz clearance.

Frequency	UHF	kW	Operator	System
Template:UK DVB-T	21	3	LTVmux (Liverpool)	DVB-T
Template:UK DVB-T	24	2	LTVmux (Manchester)	DVB-T
Template:UK DVB-T	27	1	GImux (G_MAN)	DVB-T
Template:UK DVB-T	29	100	COM4 (SDN)	DVB-T
Template:UK DVB-T	31	100	COM5 (ARQ A)	DVB-T
Template:UK DVB-T	32	100	PSB1 (BBC A)	DVB-T
Template:UK DVB-T	34	100	PSB2 (D3&4)	DVB-T
Template:UK DVB-T	35-	100	PSB3 (BBC B)	DVB-T2
Template:UK DVB-T	37	100	COM6 (ARQ B)	DVB-T
Template:UK DVB-T	40	4	LTVmux (Preston)	DVB-T

Before switchover

Template:No2Frequency	Template:No2UHF	Template:No2kW	Template:No2Operator
Template:UK DVB-T	56+	10	BBC (Mux 1)
Template:UK DVB-T	60+	10	Arqiva (Mux C)
Template:UK DVB-T	63+	10	Arqiva (Mux D)
Template:UK DVB-T	66+	10	Digital 3&4 (Mux 2)
Template:UK DVB-T	67+	10	BBC (Mux B)
Template:UK DVB-T	68+	10	SDN (Mux A)

Analogue

Analogue television transmissions from Winter Hill ceased officially during the early hours of 2 December 2009. Since then the site has carried only digital terrestrial television transmissions.

Template:No2Frequency	Template:No2UHF	Template:No2kW	Template:No2Service
Template:UK System I	48	12.5	Channel 5
Template:UK System I	55	500	BBC1 North West
Template:UK System I	59	500	Granada
Template:UK System I	62	500	BBC2 North West
Template:UK System I	65	500	Channel 4

Digital television

The following is a list of the television relays served by Winter Hill, including UHF channels for each multiplex it carries. Only Lancaster, Pendle Forest, Saddleworth and Storeton carry all the main 6 multiplexes and have done so since 1998 when Winter Hill also started broadcasting these channels. Before 2009, the Cornholme, Lydgate, Todmorden, Walsden and Walsden South transmitters in West Yorkshire also relayed signals from Winter Hill, until this was changed to relay Emley Moor in 2009.

Transmitter	BBC A	D3&4	BBC B	SDN	ARQA	ARQB
Austwick	45	39	42	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Backbarrow	53	60	57	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Bacup	46	43	40	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Barrow Town Hall	44	41	47	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Birch Vale	46	43	40	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Blackburn	46	43	40	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Bollington	27	24	21	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Brinscall	21	24	27	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Broadbottom	45	42	39	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Brook Bottom	53	60	57	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Burbage	47	41	44	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Buxton	27	24	21	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Cartmel	28	25	22	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Chaigley	27	24	21	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Chatburn	26	23	29	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Chinley	53	60	57	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Congleton	44	41	47	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Dalton	46	43	40	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Darwen	45	39	42	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Delph	26	23	29	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Dog Hill	46	43	40	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Elton	27	24	21	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Far Highfield	52	56	48	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Glossop	28	25	22	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Haslingden	26	23	29	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Haughton Green	46	43	40	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Ladder Hill	26	23	29	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Lancaster	27	24	21	25	28	22
Langley	27	24	21	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Lees	28	25	22	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Littleborough	27	24	21	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Macclesfield	28	25	22	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Manchester Hulme	44	41	47	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Melling HP	57	60	53	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Melling VP	57	60	53	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Middleton	28	25	22	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Millom Park	28	25	22	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Moss Bank	27	24	21	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Mottram in Longdendale	46	43	40	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Newchurch	21	24	27	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Norden	53	57	60	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
North Oldham	27	24	21	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Oakenhead	44	41	47	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Over Biddulph	57	53	60	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Parbold	41	44	47	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Pendle Forest	28	25	22	27	21	24
Penny Bridge	26	23	29	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Portwood	28	25	22	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Prestbury	46	43	40	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Ramsbottom	53	60	57	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Ribblesdale	41	44	47	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Romiley	44	41	47	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Roose HP	22	28	25	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Roose VP	22	28	25	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Saddleworth	45	39	42	33	36	48
Skelmersdale	46	43	40	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Stavely-in-Cartmel	46	43	40	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Stockport	24	21	27	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Storeton	28	25	22	23	26	29
Stunningdale	44	41	47	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Trawden	53	60	57	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Urswick	44	41	47	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Walton-Le-Dale	27	24	21	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Wardle	28	25	22	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
West Kirby	27	24	21	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Whaley Bridge	45	39	42	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Whalley	46	43	40	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Whitewell	53	60	57	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Whitworth	28	25	22	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA
Woodnook	45	39	42	Template:NA	Template:NA	Template:NA

Radio

FM

Frequency	kW<ref name="Radio Listeners Guide">Radio Listeners Guide</ref>	Service
88.6 MHz	4†	BBC Radio 2
90.8 MHz	4†	BBC Radio 3
93.0 MHz	4†	BBC Radio 4
97.4 MHz	2	Hits Radio Lancashire
98.2 MHz	4†	BBC Radio 1
100.4 MHz	5	Smooth North West
103.9 MHz	2	BBC Radio Lancashire
105.4 MHz	5	Heart North West

† Relays the signal from Holme Moss to cover south and central Lancashire <ref name="Radio Listeners Guide">Radio Listeners Guide</ref>

DAB

Frequency	Block	kW<ref name="Radio Listeners Guide">Radio Listeners Guide</ref>	Operator
213.360 MHz	10C	1.2†	Bauer Liverpool
216.928 MHz	11A	20	SDL National
222.064 MHz	11D	10	Digital One
223.936 MHz	12A	1.5‡	Lancashire
225.648 MHz	12B	10	BBC National DAB
227.360 MHz	12C	3.5†	CE Manchester

† Broadcasts from a directional aerial to cover Greater Manchester.

† Broadcasts from a directional aerial to cover flintshire North Wales (Rhyl, Prestatyn, Llanrwst, Llandudno and surrounding areas). From Moel-y-Parc.

‡ Broadcasts from a directional aerial to cover central Lancashire (Wigan, Preston, Southport, Blackpool and surrounding areas).

Plane crash

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} On 27 February 1958, a Silver City Bristol 170 Freighter (G-AICS) travelling from the Isle of Man to Manchester crashed into Winter Hill (also known as Rivington Moor) several hundred yards away from the mast. Thirty-five people died and 7 were injured. The weather that night was so severe that none of the engineers working in the transmission centre were aware of the crash. Several feet of snow hampered rescue efforts, and a snowcat vehicle had to be diverted from the A6 to cut a path for emergency vehicles.

Timeline

• 1956: Granada Television (weekdays) & ABC Weekend TV commence black and white television broadcasting prior to main mast construction.
• 1958: Fatal plane crash kills 35 people, 7 survive.
• 1962: BBC commence broadcasting on VHF Channel 12 (including the Manchester version of Look North)
• 1965: Main mast is completed, replacing the old 450' construction, which is removed.
• 1965: BBC 2 UHF transmissions start.
• 1967: BBC2 UHF Colour Transmissions start.
• 1968: ABC Television loses franchise; Granada Television commences broadcasting seven days a week.
• 1968: ITA (Independent Television Authority) build the single storey engineering building.
• 1969: ITV and BBC1 transmit in colour on UHF.
• 1970: Relaying service set up with Emley Moor mast.
• 1974: Local radio stations set up wire frame ILR transmitters on the hill. ITA became IBA, following start of commercial radio broadcasting (in 1973).
• 1981: Channel 4 create additional engineering building.
• 1981: Occasional Channel 4 test transmissions start.
• 1982: Additional ILR transmitter put into operation for further local radio. Channel 4 commences transmission (on 2 November 1982).
• 1983: Channel 4 set up relay service.
• 1989: NICAM stereo transmissions commence from the site.
• 1997: Channel 5 commences transmission
• 1998: Radio station Century 105 starts broadcasting from the main mast (became Real Radio, now HEART).
• 1998: Low power Digital TV transmission start.
• 2009: Analogue TV signals were switched off in two phases on Wednesday 4 November 2009 (BBC Two Switched off) and 2 December 2009 (remaining analogue channels).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See also

• List of masts
• List of tallest structures in the United Kingdom
• List of radio stations in the United Kingdom

Further reading

• The Devil Casts His Net, Steve Morrin, Template:ISBN, The Winter Hill Air Disaster.

External links

• MB21 Winter Hill index. Template:Webarchive
• Info and pictures of Winter Hill transmitter including historical power/frequency changes and present co-receivable transmitters.
• http://www.skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?b2455
• Winter Hill Transmitter at thebigtower.com