OK...I'm pretty sure I found that it was in fact the balun 300 ohm crappy leads.
I barely unscrewed the first lead and it simply broke right off.
I took the balun and tested continuity between the metal fork lead and wire and it was iffy; IE: I had to press pretty hard with my VOM leads to get any reading.
So, I decided to cut and replace the end leads with the round type ones and tin and solder the wires inside, rubbed some dielectric gel on all metal, and wrapped them nicely with elect. tape.
My UHF stations are all back and it's 66F outside tonight; granted only a couple weak stations are out, but that's normal for me behind this damn mountain.
I'll wait for tomorrow's weather as we're expecting rain this weekend and possibly another thunderstorm...
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, FOR EVERYONE'S HELP!