AdmiralCochrane

That's why I don't get worked up over anyone using a ham radio on GMRS. If they keep to appropriate power and bandwidth, I don't care what radio they're using. I'm not the radio police, and if FCC doesn't consider it worth enforcing, neither do I. (TBH, I don't get worked up over someone in the mountains of Montana using 5 watts and wide bandwidth on FRS 10 either. They're not going to interfere with anyone else. Before I could get worked up about it, I'd have to be able to hear it. 😄)

While it’s still fresh in your mind start going through the General material. It builds on the technician test and adds more technical detail. I really enjoyed the studying experience. Upgrading your license doesn’t require additional money to the FCC. 

More likely tropospheric ducting which is caused by an atmospheric condition and affects UHF signals. 

😄😆🤣😂
Oh sweet summer child....

Would they "work"?: YES
Would they "work" the way you want/the way you are wishing they would to extend each other's coverage?: NO

Just to clear some confusion, channels and frequencies are often interchanged but they are not the same in all cases. A channel always contains a frequency - GMRS is an example. Frequencies can be assigned to a channel but they are also free-standing. In the amateur world we talk frequencies, but use channels when any other service uses them. 

Thank you!  I agree that existing regulations should be either enforced or repealed. 

My old microwave in my kitchen is 1200 watts, capable of a really nasty burn

Could be a lot of trees in the way and they're using a more powerful transmitter and antenna.  Maybe your signal isn't strong enough to reach them.  They might be using a Rx tone and can't hear you.
Or they just don't want to talk to you like OffRoaderX said.

Or maybe they just dont want to talk to you.

I have been restricted from racing by three doctors because of three different surgeries. I was hit by car when a 92 year old driver ran a stop sign and hit me while I was riding my bicycle 4 years ago. My last surgery was for by lower back last April. So, no  racecar driving for me yet.
I did put 10 gallons of fresh Sunoco Race Fuel in my car this morning and took it for a 25 mile drive up and down the freeway just to keep the car happy since it has been sitting for awhile and I mean awhile. The tires are hard as a rock but everything seemed to be ok. I am able to get in and out of the car ok without any soreness or pain and I am able to lift/raise a 15 foot metal roll-up door and open/close the ramp door on my trailer. However, I am not ready to lift my tires and wheels up and into my tire rack in my trailer yet and that is my goal. Maybe later this year.
I do feel like I may be able to change the tires now since I graduated from Physical Therapy three weeks ago and the progress I'm making with the exercises that were given to me by the doctors.
All I can do now is just be in charge and organize the events. I think I may be able to drive after the first of the year. The Doctors don't want me to go crazy yet, but they are very pleased with my recovery so far and have allowed me to take on more exercises with more weight resistance. They have been real impressed with my speedy recovery especially for an old person.
"XP", you have to run against Andy and Teresa McKee.

Not unless you intend to make something mandatory. 
 
The single largest problem with regulations is that people don’t know how to read them. Words have very specific legal implications, no more and no less. Lawyers are trained in how to interpret those meanings. Most other people read something into them that doesn’t exist. 
I am a member of the NFPA Pyrotechnic Technical Committee. The amount of work and time it takes to add, subtract, or change a few lines of NFPA sample code is immense but the end goal is always that there be one and only one interpretation. 

I was going to mention that specifically but I mentioned it in an obscure sense when I gave my microwave example.

Ok, I've got Zoom set up and I've taken the Practice Test a couple more times, Scored 32/35 and 34/35. I think I'm ready.🫤
Just need to set up a time to take the test remotely. 

I went on HamStudy.org last night and took a few practice tests. I finally got one where I was 26/35 which I guess would be passing.
The electronics part is easy for me(Electronic Tech Degree, DeVry)but some of the legal stuff and other "HAM" stuff was a toss up. I'm sure with a bit of study I could pass. Thanks for the link.

The technical aspect of ham radio is like the cost, it goes from very little to...well no one really knows the limit.

Just for the heck of it, and not knowing much at all, I just took the Technician's level test on the freeham website. Failed it. 45%, but that's with ZERO studying or prep. I'm sure that with some effort and prep, OP could do it. Go for it!
 

No, I meant: Who do you talk to?

It can get rather technical but 50 watts of non-ionizing radiation is 50 watts.  Don't touch a 100 watt light bulb and don't hold on to a 50 watt bulb for too long.

No, I meant: Who do you talk to?

You can buy really nice used scopes at Ham swaps for good prices. I've seen plenty of dual channel 100MHz Techtronic scopes for sale for $100 to $200.  
In fact good used test gear is one of the things I always look out for. For a hobbyist it a great way to build up a test bench for a few $100's to a $1000 depending on what you want. You can easily end up with gear that would have cost several $10K's if purchased new at the time.
At a minimum I would recommend a couple of variable DC power supplies (0 to 30 VDC at 1 to 2 amps), function generator (good to 5MHz), dual channel scope (50 MHz to 100 MHz) and a good bench top 4.5 digit multi-meter.  
After that you can look for more specialized gear like RF power meters, frequency counters, LCR meters, electronic loads, service monitors etc. depending on one's area of interest. 
Most of my more specialized stuff is stored away unless I'm using it. I have a dual channel HP frequency counter I have to do some work on (replace a noisy fan and install the optional 4GHz prescaler.) GPS disciplined 10MHz frequency standard, a used Rubidium atomic frequency standard, 200 MHz quad channel scope, 6.5 digit bench multi-meter, 20 MHz dual channel arbitrary digital waveform generator, 200 watt electronic load ... 
 

Nope.
A lot of them do because it *can* decrease confusion in new users. What's required is that the radio enforce the rules. The rules don't say anything about what memory slot a frequency sits in.
My "nice" GMRS radios (nice for me...), KG-905Gs, will force the radio to low power if you put, say, GMRS Channel 8 in memory slot 20, or allow high power and frequency offset for repeaters channels if you put them in, say, memory slot 8, where a low power interstitial channel would normally go. 
Lazily programmed (from the factory, I mean) radios force things rigidly in place because it's easier than enforcing the rules more broadly. 

More like less than 0.0000000001% chance - and its not a belief, its a fact that anyone can look up on the FCC website, which lists every enforcement the FCC has done for the last ~15 years.
NO - It does not appear that the FCC monitors GMRS YES - Disgruntled and very "sad" hams do report violators to the FCC, but the FCC does not appear to care based on the record of enforcements PROBABLY a lot of clubs monitoring, but see the points above because it doesn't matter  

Will be 4 next month.  Says he's ready
 

This is why you need stupid people to write the actual regulations.  They'd spell it out instead of referring to this which refers to that which in turn refers to something else.  Reminds me of reading the NEC regulations where you need to look at the whole book every single time because nothing is stated in a sentence that doesn't refer to some other part of the book.