With your setup I wouldn.t expect better. As others have pointed out, your antenna is the basement performer for DX. That is a good radio, it can do the job.. Consider the receive end.
Those you hear calling CQ probably have high noise from strong signals and may be running a bit of power themselves. Base stations in the lot too.
A few suggestions presuming you are mobile, I would invest in a 5/8 wave gain antenna
like a K-40 or Wilson 1000M. Mag mount is fine. Tune or have tuned, the antenna for the lowest
SWR you can achieve. Try a DXpedition. Drive up to a high hill/mountain top overlooking trees and terrain. Time of day: I found my best DX in mornings just as the skip rolls in before the cluster of CBers dominating a channel. Late night after bedtime. I talked to a number of stations
as far away as 75 miles, from San Diego to Hesperia Cal. No skip and only little noise.
Operating: don't turn your mic gain up any higher than getting your peak output power.
Anything else is distortion. Call CQ, wait 5 minutes, call again. You don't always get a response.
Think power: You simply don't need more than 100 watts. Stay away from cheap CB linears unless AM is your mode. They are not linear and terrible for SSB.
My radio is 25 watts. with that, I talked daily to a buddy in Las Vegas from Portland.
I also worked Canada, Mexico, and Australia. Of course, that was back in the peak solar cycle and skip everywhere. We are coming up on solar cycle 25, as we speak, 7:30 PM
I am hearing skip from south America and east coast. That is with my terrible antenna and very high noise level.
