Brand new to gmrs and need help with radios/repeaters

[WSKM915]

Good afternoon all, I am brand new to gmrs radios and just recently received my license. I purchased 2 baofeng gm-21 gmrs radios equipped with abbree ar-771gmrs antennas. I have only been able to connect to 1 gmrs repeater on a total drive of 3 hours across my state. By “connect” I mean I heard the klurchunk and what sounded like Morse code. I can hear people talking but I can not seem to connect to my local repeater. I requested access to all repeaters I have used even free access ones. I have the tones keyed in correctly but can’t connect to them. My question is should I get new radio mobile or handheld including new antennas? 

[SteveShannon]

7 minutes ago, WSKM915 said:

Good afternoon all, I am brand new to gmrs radios and just recently received my license. I purchased 2 baofeng gm-21 gmrs radios equipped with abbree ar-771gmrs antennas. I have only been able to connect to 1 gmrs repeater on a total drive of 3 hours across my state. By “connect” I mean I heard the klurchunk and what sounded like Morse code. I can hear people talking but I can not seem to connect to my local repeater. I requested access to all repeaters I have used even free access ones. I have the tones keyed in correctly but can’t connect to them. My question is should I get new radio mobile or handheld including new antennas? 

No - see other answer.

Four is a new record though!