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Go for it Mike. I like my GMRS for family as well as using for our family a private GNRS repeater for us and neighborhood. BUT with a Ham ticket so much more with selection of radios and hundreds of repeaters to pick from to use without joining. My now 13 yo grand daughter and I got our Ham ticket last May 2021 and we have fun talking to locals within 40 miles via repeaters, doing fox hunts as well as the speaking to the whole world. We only use HT and do a lot with DMRoIP. Grand daughter talks to a group of teen hams on weekend via Digital Youth Group Net FRI, SAT, SUN at 6:45 PM EST on Brandmeister Talk Group 96 https://hose.brandmeister.network/#/?subscribe=96 It a new Teen group and growing. FYI like GMRS folks, Ham folks are good and welcoming folks.

I am going to have to study for my Ham I guess.

I love 10m repeaters. Had a guy somewhat local to my home in VA with a 10m repeater. It was 37 miles away from my house and I could work it from home all day with only 5 watts. It was high enough that with 100w, it easily had 100 mile+ of LOS/Ground wave coverage and at solar maximum the world was the limit. The repeater is listed as private/off the air now. I'm not sure if the owner passed or decided to stop public access.

Well, yes and no on repeaters and channels. In GMRS there are channels set aside for repeater operation however it is not true that only repeaters may operate on these channels. FRS (and GMRS) can operate simplex (using the same frequency to transmit and receive) on the output frequency of a repeater pair. In the amateur world the channels are a little more structured in there are ranges for repeater channels and these are coordinated by regional volunteers to limit interference. In the part 90 world, the only band with repeater frequencies specifically limited is in the UHF spectrum but the LMR coordinators will and do assign repeater frequencies in any part of their spectrum they can.