DOCSGMRS

I’m going to Alaska via Canada … I’ll enter and exit via the same entry point.  As I said, I’d like the option to use it in Alaska, but it’s not imperative.  I will call and find out what I can.
 

Back to the OP ... Jeep clubs are using GMRS more nowadays ... clearer comms than CB ... range is a bit more reliable ... Midland sponsored an annual Jeep event ... so, here’s a group where GMRS popularity is increasing.

Before anyone spends any money on an antenna you should really try a simple 1/4 wave dipole. They are cheap to buy, and easy to make on your own (lots of instructions online).  The simple fact is that as a Line-of-Sight service, GMRS/UHF doesn't go very far anyway.  It makes no sense to spend money for gain to create a signal that will not travel any further.  Of course, there are many cases where a gain antenna (uni or multi directional) makes sense. But, the vast majority of applications can be well met with the most basic of antennas.

I know I have posted this before, but I can't seem to find it. So, here it is again.
 
GMRS is a radio service designed for a specific purpose: family communication.
A mobile two-way voice communication service, with limited data applications, for facilitating activities of individual licensees and their family members, including, but not limited to, voluntary provision of assistance to the public during emergencies and natural disasters.
 
​Contrast that with Amateur radio
a) Recognition and enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications.
Continuation and extension of the amateur's proven ability to contribute to the advancement of the radio art.
c) Encouragement and improvement of the amateur service through rules which provide for advancing skills in both the communication and technical phases of the art.
d) Expansion of the existing reservoir within the amateur radio service of trained operators, technicians, and electronics experts.
e) Continuation and extension of the amateur's unique ability to enhance international goodwill.
 
It sounds like some of what @krvw and others here expect from GMRS is actually found in HAM (Amateur) radio. If you want to try and make GMRS into another HAM like service, you are doomed to failure.  My suggestion is, take advantage of GMRS for what it is and don't fret what it is not. If you are looking for a broader hobbyist community, try amateur radio. You will find repeaters everywhere with all-kind of communities (some of which you will love, others which you will hate). An Amateur tech license is not only not hard to get, but in the process of getting the license you will learn a lot about radio in general that will help you with GMRS as well. And, if you become interested and go for your amateur general license, then there is the world of low-band, short-wave...
 

Because GMRS is a service that exists for one simple purpose, providing voice communications in the local area, with a very low barrier to entry.
 
Note, there are people who try to turn GMRS into a sort of mini amateur radio, and there are amateurs, who try to build a pseudo-GMRS service for friends and family. But, in the end each service has its own intended applications and it’s own reason for existence and that’s why I am licensed in both

This reply is in response to the OP question ... Here’s another perspective  ... I tested and passed my Tech license in Nov 2017. Prior to that, I went to a local Ham club meetings in hopes of meeting and interacting with other Hams. After an introduction to the group, there was little interaction and discussion, I felt invisible.  I attended meetings for three months and finally just stopped going.  I had a BaoFung radio which was a pain to figure out but I finally got it working.  The local repeater was silent ... I’d sign on as monitoring and listen to the repeater call sign.  Crickets.  I got the big C, retired, and put the radio in a box for two years because I had other priorities.  It was like starting over but I did a lot of reading and decided to give it a try again.  I ditched the BF and got a Yaesu FT-70 and found a much more useable handheld.  I was in Arizona now and again attempted to get things going. Current situation did not allow face to face meetings, and I did get logged into a club net meeting ... much better response, actually had my first conversation with another Ham while I switchEd antennas and checked the response.  After that, crickets on the local repeater, so I scanned the spectrum and listened to the local aircraft traffic pattern and other freqs with activity.  I blundered on to the the local GMRS repeater by accident.  I found an active group of users and just listened ... after a month or so of listening, I decided to get my GMRS license and do what I wanted to do on the radio in the first place - communicate with people and family in my area.  I didn’t have an interest in building or tweeking or exploring technical opportunities ... I wanted to turn it on and talk.  I wanted to communicate and my experience was limited or no communication on the amateur bands.  GMRS did that for me.  Ham was just a no show ... my face to face interactions with my first Ham club didn’t help.  So, this is another perspective on Amateur vs. GMRS ... BTW, I’m still an ARRL member but not sure why at this point.

Don't worry about it. Switch to another repeater or use the VFO to find somebody else to talk to. The crappy attitude was at its height around the time the FCC dropped the CW requirement for all license classes. There were endless debates, some still going on, about the merits of dropping or not dropping the CW requirements. Some of the old timers hated that change, and likely will never get over it. I guess they though of it as a some kind of exclusive club. If that was what they valued most then they got into Ham radio for the wrong reason. Go out, make contacts and have fun.

You are unnecessarily applying overly zealous ham etiquette to GMRS. Some hams tend to be a bit anal about using phonetics on callsigns and then only the Blessed ARRL approved phonetic list. Amateur radio is the only place you find this uselessly rigid behavior.
 
In GMRS, phonetic spelling isn’t required or expected. If someone has a hard time understanding your words or callsign, by all means, use phonetics. But if you say Tom instead of Tango or Apple instead of Alpha, nobody in GMRS land Is gonna bite your head off. We’re kinda laid-back and easy going about these things.

Not really. There really is no protocol beyond the FCC identification requirements. Since GMRS tends to be used within groups of people, each group tends to create their own protocol for identification.

This reply is in response to the OP question ... Here’s another perspective  ... I tested and passed my Tech license in Nov 2017. Prior to that, I went to a local Ham club meetings in hopes of meeting and interacting with other Hams. After an introduction to the group, there was little interaction and discussion, I felt invisible.  I attended meetings for three months and finally just stopped going.  I had a BaoFung radio which was a pain to figure out but I finally got it working.  The local repeater was silent ... I’d sign on as monitoring and listen to the repeater call sign.  Crickets.  I got the big C, retired, and put the radio in a box for two years because I had other priorities.  It was like starting over but I did a lot of reading and decided to give it a try again.  I ditched the BF and got a Yaesu FT-70 and found a much more useable handheld.  I was in Arizona now and again attempted to get things going. Current situation did not allow face to face meetings, and I did get logged into a club net meeting ... much better response, actually had my first conversation with another Ham while I switchEd antennas and checked the response.  After that, crickets on the local repeater, so I scanned the spectrum and listened to the local aircraft traffic pattern and other freqs with activity.  I blundered on to the the local GMRS repeater by accident.  I found an active group of users and just listened ... after a month or so of listening, I decided to get my GMRS license and do what I wanted to do on the radio in the first place - communicate with people and family in my area.  I didn’t have an interest in building or tweeking or exploring technical opportunities ... I wanted to turn it on and talk.  I wanted to communicate and my experience was limited or no communication on the amateur bands.  GMRS did that for me.  Ham was just a no show ... my face to face interactions with my first Ham club didn’t help.  So, this is another perspective on Amateur vs. GMRS ... BTW, I’m still an ARRL member but not sure why at this point.