Greetings all. I'm still pretty new to this so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I seem to be having issues with reception. At-least, I think I am. I've got a UAYESOK Fiberglass GMRS Base Antenna (https://www.amazon.com/UAYESOK-Fiberglass-Antenna-Repeater-Motorola/dp/B0CF9DV3ZM), about 30' up off the ground (a good 10' above the house ridge line). It's going into a Wouxun KG-1000G-Plus from a 50' RG213 coax, into an arrester (that's ground out to an 8' grounding rod buried at point of entry to the house), followed by a 10' RG213 coax entering the house, down into the radio. SWR shows around 1.0 at full 50watts. (Maybe fluxuate a littlle every once in a while but never over 1.5:1).
Nearest I can tell, this is about as optimal as I can make it.
I can hear NOAA, local Air Traffic Control, local HAM (2m/70cm repeaters) all with this antenna (and it's only a UHF tuned for GMRS). I have been trying to make contact with folks on a repeater (WMTG600) that's a fair distance away (about 30 miles give or take). I know my transmits are getting through as I can almost make out folks coming back if I turn off the squelch and just monitor closely. But I'd have expected to be able to hear much better than this.
Any thoughts or suggestions on improving reception? Or, is it just "quite" out there with this repeater and those trying to respond back are really just that far away?
Appreciate the feedback.