[rabbit73]

Welcome, DarkStar:

I agree with ADTech on the Monoprice and the direction. I found links for the RCA antenna but I couldn't find a link for the USB tuner.
http://www.rcaantennas.net/indoor-hd...?sku=ANT1450BF
http://www.rcaantennas.net/docs/comm...T1450BF_OM.pdf

I have not ever tried orienting it in the horizontal plane. Do you think that might work better?

You will need to try it in different locations and different positions.

I am supposing that drilling through the corners of the antenna's plastic shell would generally be regarded as a knucklehead play, right?

Not unless you know what is inside. Maybe you can construct a plastic cradle and clamp for it that wouldn't block the signals.

As the RCA antenna that I have is a flat panel that came with its own small amp (which I have always used as it doesn't seem to work at all without it),

Since I don't know the specs of the amp, it is possible that it might be overloaded, if not by your strong TV signals, then maybe by your even stronger local FM signals:
http://www.fmfool.com/modeling/tmp/0...3/Radar-FM.png

The only window in my apartment's living room is a southern exposure at about 176 degrees (magnetic). I did have the RCA antenna stuck in this window for some time, but the same lousy reception issues I've already described happened when the antenna was there as they are with the antenna secured to the adjacent wall (its current location).

Is your apartment on the ground floor or the second floor? Does the window have a metal screen or low-E glass?

If you are not able to receive WOI for ABC on real channel 50, it might be possible to construct a simple antenna for WOI on real channel 5 and integrate it with your UHF/VHF antenna.

I see a lot of trees in your area. Trees and buildings block signals.

The RCA antenna is a very simple low gain antenna coupled with an amp that tries to make up for its low efficiency. If we can't help you get the RCA going, it will be necessary to upgrade to an antenna that has more gain before the amp.