Wiggin78 you have a problem!
Despite living in a virtual television “no-man’s land”, you have taken up an objective that is probably affected by the only significant broadcasting transmission within 25 miles of your location. But I digress.
At the link below are the DTV channels within 170 miles of your Zip Code. The two channels you desire to receive (35 and 55) are listed as 166 miles out. That is a real stretch, even for flat terrain and being on a hill. Generally, one would get the best fringe antenna with the best high gain, low noise pre-amp to try to receive these stations. Maybe even horizontally stack a pair of antennas.
http://www.2150.com/broadcast/defau...lse&show_low_power=False&action=Show+Stations
Channels 35 and 55 are shown to be on a compass reading of 150 degrees from your Zip Code. None of digital channels in your area are broadcasting at much more than the wattage of a hair dryer and all but one of the analog channels are too low power and/or too far away (+50 miles) and/or significantly off the 150 degree azimuth to affect your reception. However, you have channel 24 in Chico, just 22 miles away and it is just 6 degrees off your azimuth to the Sacramento channels, broadcasting at 5,000 watts. This could be your problem.
What to do? Well first, use the links on the web page below and regenerate the report I provided above using your actual address to get your actual longitude and latitude. At the distances you are dealing with, a little movement may make a significant difference in compass azimuths of the desired channels (35 and 55) and the potentially problem channel 24.
http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/hdreception/hdtv_ota.html
Then point your antenna directly along the compass azimuth you derive for channels 35 and 55 (my 150 degrees will be close, but you need exact stuff here). While you fine-tune the aim of your antenna, have someone use your Dish 811 to check signal readings. Go to local channels in the 811 menu and select “Add DTV”. Type in 55 and watch the signal strength. Move your antenna’s aim a few degrees left and right. Lock it in where you get the best signal. Check signal for channel 35.
Note, the 811 isn’t the best ATSC receiver, but it is more than adequate now that the software is nearly debugged. Also, any signal in the 70’s is more than sufficient. The 811 will lock anything over 60, but readings in the 60’s usually have frequent dropouts. If you get over 70, call it good. Nothing much happens by increasing signal strength from 75 to 95, except maybe you over-power the signal.
I can’t explain your lost signal problems at night. Usually it is the other way around as there is more signal traffic during the day than at night. TV stations don’t vary their power by time of day like some radio stations do.
After all of the above, if you are still having the loss of signal with your set up, take k4106’s advice and try to tune in Sacramento’s analog channel 40. If it is just snowy, it is just lack of signal power. If it is all garbled and jazzed up, you have some cross channel interference. Probably channel 24. So try to tune in Chico’s analog channel 24. If it is garbled and/or distorted, it is overloading your signal.
Now what? Best bet is to filter out channel 24. While I’m not a big fan of CM JoinTenna’s, it is about the only practical option consumers have. Get one set for channel 24 (Warren Electronics sells them; takes a few weeks).
http://www.warrenelectronics.com/
Install it between the antenna and the pre-amp (i.e., coax from the antenna to the JoinTenna and coax from the JoinTenna to the pre-amp signal in). This filtering will degrade your signal a little, so you will need all the pre-amp gain to try to lock in 35 and 55.
Good luck.
s help.
