Sigma

Depending on the radio yes you can listen on many uhf and vhf frequencies.  

https://www.radioreference.com/db/
is a good place to start   
 

Hello
New to GMRS.
I have seen several videos where it was said that it is possible to listen to frequencies on a GMRS radio that are not GMRS.
If this is possible, is there a web site I can check and see if I can find these frequencies based on location?
Thanks.

are your two radios at least 50 feet apart from each other when testing?

And it was not a dumb question for a noob to ask.  Please don't be afraid to ask anything.  Somebody will help....

Amen!

Generally speaking, one of the bigger mistakes made here on the MyGMRS forums is roasting newbies. It's demeaning and it discourages them from further participation. Also, in order to be certified for use on GMRS frequencies, GMRS radios cannot have the ability to transmit on any frequencies other than the frequencies and power levels that are designated by the FCC. So if you are using a radio that is specifically an FCC certified GMRS radio, there would be no way you could transmit on any other frequencies. 

Then you probably should have said that, especially since the OP is a self-confessed n00b and prone to confuckulation and at a very impressionable stage in his radio career.

Two possibilities.
1. You are using the wrong tone.
2. The repeater doesn't use a tone on the output. In that case no tone so your radio will never un-mute the audio.
I almost NEVER use receive tones on my radios unless I need to REALLY block some interference from another repeater or simplex station. I just don't get the desire where people feel the need to use a receive tone when it's almost never required on their radio. It ends up leading to unnecessary problems like the above.

I do believe your Anytone is a decent radio.  I have two Radioddity DB-20Gs which are the same as the Anytone AT-779 and they do just fine.  Alot of issues are caused by terrain, etc. not necessarily the radio per se.

More proof that "some people" should be ignored with extreme prejudice. 

Maybe the problem is the people you’re trying to talk to. 😁
The Anytone isn’t a bad radio. 

Before you go throwing any radios in the trash based on some smart-ass who says it sounds like it came from K-mart or Radio Shack, tell us exactly what model of Anytone radio you have and how you are trying to use it. (Location, distance from the smart-ass, that kind of thing.) It's possible your issues can be solved before you dump more money in.

They are likely using tones. If you have a tone set on your RX, it will squelch out any signal that is not sent with the same tone.
Find out what tone they are using and set that in your TX and they should hear you.
You can year signals that are sent with a tone if you use the same tone on RX or no tone at all.

With ham you can use more power. When you are trying to penetrate through the trees extra power can help.

In my humble opinion, it's not an issue of ham vs GMRS. Or what ham has over GMRS. There are advantages to both. GMRS doesn't require a test, just your $35 and a promise to obey the FCC rules. And the license covers family members, up to a point. But the frequencies are limited, and channelized. Ham radio requires a test, the same $35, and only covers one person. There are many more frequencies available with UHF ham radio. Both ham and GMRS can operate simplex or through repeaters. You'll probably find more repeaters on ham radio. I use both, since I have ham radio friends who communicate with me, and I use GMRS to communicate with my non-ham wife through a repeater if I'm out somewhere with no cell coverage. My suggestion is to use both and don't fall into the "one is better than the other" trap.
Also, there are a few mobile ham transceivers out there that do HF, VHF and UHF. They're not cheap, and you may end up rolling the dice in the used market to find them. The Icom IC-706MkIIG, IC-7000 and IC-7100, the Yaesu FT-857, and others.

I was doing a job a few years ago and picked up 6 "Ozark Trail" FRS HT's from Walmart in two packs. Just found one of them in a box yesterday and it does have a default ctcss tone of 67.0 across 22 channels.
Range sucks on them - we installed truck parking detectors at the interstate rest areas and had to validate and time stamp every truck that came in and out of the parking lot to make sure the system was working. They had a hard time trying to make it across the parking lot, had to sit outdoors in the middle of the lot to coordinate things. Battery life is excellent on them, one of the guys forgot to turn the radio off when he threw it in the back of my car. Every now and then for the better part of a month I'd hear a muffled voice when driving for a second and couldn't figure out where it was coming from before I found it (low battery chirps). At least it didn't interfere with the voices in my head.
 
 

I have both permission slips. If S.H.T.F. I would use GMRS to stay in touch with local family (non-hams) and I would use amateur radio to find out what's going on. If your S.H.T.F. scenario includes power outages a lot of repeaters on both services will be inoperable. For extended power outages even the battery backed up repeaters my be down after a few days.