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Don't get discourage by the lack of users in your area rather embrace the lack of and if no repeater is available in your area install one. I have learned if you build it they will come. Start a club or group, put up a web page, start a Facebook group for your area etc.. You will be surprised how quickly like minded people will get licensed to talk with others that share the same interests.

Thanks guys I just ordered a TK-880 And the gentleman is gonna program my local repeater in for me , I probably payed a lil to much at 120 shipped . My I’m ok with my purchase . I will need help for future programming though

Spending the money to "meter" a mag mount antenna that you're going to use with a Midland GMRS radio is a waste of time, money & effort IMHO. Your problem is your gear. If you want to have success using a GMRS wide area repeater, you pretty much need to go with Wideband capable equipment. That rules out most of the Midland stuff. The good news is, for not much more than the cost of the MFJ883 meter, you can pick up a really nice used Motorola or Kenwood radio and have it custom programmed to the GMRS repeater(s) you want to work on. Good luck with it.

Just to add to JohnE's post - The model that you mentioned is primarily a digital radio with analog capabilities. Digital voice transmission is not allowed on GMRS and there are features in that radio that could not be used legally on GMRS frequencies. The Kenwood TK880-1, TK880H-1, TK863G, and others mentioned by JohnE would be excellent choices and they are Type Certified for Part 95 operation.

Do you have a balcony? I’m in an apartment, but have a balcony. I just ran LMR400 (several) and put my antennas out there, lol. I figured it was better to ask for forgiveness than pernission. Landlord did ask what they were and I explained amateur radio and GMRS. (I used angle telling her it’d still work if power and all else lost, which would as I have backup power.) She thought it was neat and even asked if I could setup some wireless bridges on rooftop (two buildings here) for their IP cameras. Easy peasy! Hoping to get brownie points and maybe sweet talk her into letting me set my antennas up there, lol. I’d put them in center roof, where can’t be seen from ground, so nobody could see, else might be seen as “tenant favoritism”. Even though, my landlord loves me, anyway. Mainly because I’m a veteran and she loves all veterans. I’m not complaining. :-)