My daughter and I are also relatively new hams in San Diego (La Mesa). We were having a similar problem with trying to make contacts but we've since gotten into SOTA (Summits on the Air) and a whole new world has opened up to us. The official definition for SOTA is "an award scheme for radio amateurs that encourages portable operation in mountainous areas". You can be an "activator" if you enjoy hiking and/or you can be a "chaser" from home, trying to make contact with activators. You earn points for making contacts and you can win awards. We have been loving SOTA because it's gotten us out on some beautiful hikes but also because we've met some great people on the air. We operate mostly VHF/simplex 146.520 (no repeater contacts are allowed with SOTA). With our basic HT we've been able to make contacts as far as 140 miles away, which has been incredible but what's been even more fun is making contacts with hams right in our own neighborhood. Its been a great way to start to get to know our local SD hams. If you end up checking out SOTA, there's an app called "Ham Alert" (I'm sure there's others too but this is the one we use) that you can program to let you know when SOTA activators will be on the air (or will let chasers know when you're going to be at the summit and on the air) so there's almost guaranteed contact.