SteveShannon

HTs on the amateur bands are basically limited to VHF (6m, 2m, 1.25m) and UHF (70cm), so not really any different than GMRS (UHF). Mode (FM) and power levels are basically the same as well. It basically comes down to the things you already mentioned, like terrain, as well as antennas, availability of repeaters, etc. In my area there are a handful of GMRS repeaters, but there is at least one ham repeater in almost every city in my county alone. YMMV

Skywave propagation is a trip. Just messing around with WSPR, the sweet spot for me, in terms of signal strength is roughly between 800-1500km. Anything farther away gets weaker with distance, anything closer just passes right overhead. Of course, there are tons of variables here, and I'm working QRP, too. 😅

If I could find someone about 5 miles north of my location willing to host a repeater site, I could likely scrape up the cash to get it done. I don't think it would meet the goal if I did it where I am.
These are small, rural communities in a low-income area. One has about 2,500 residents and the other (where I am) has about 350.

I agree with @WRKC935; you shouldn’t feel that way.  Hopefully my answer didn’t contribute to you feeling that way.  I hope you ask more questions and I hope someday you enjoy helping others here.
 
There will always be those people who attempt to make themselves feel better by attempting to make someone else feel worse.  @Socalgmrs is one of those people.  He especially relishes trolling newcomers.  You did nothing wrong!  
One of the features of the forum software is the ability to place other users on an ignore list.  SocalGMRS is on my ignore list because I enjoy not seeing his trolling.

I agree with @WRKC935; you shouldn’t feel that way.  Hopefully my answer didn’t contribute to you feeling that way.  I hope you ask more questions and I hope someday you enjoy helping others here.
 
There will always be those people who attempt to make themselves feel better by attempting to make someone else feel worse.  @Socalgmrs is one of those people.  He especially relishes trolling newcomers.  You did nothing wrong!  
One of the features of the forum software is the ability to place other users on an ignore list.  SocalGMRS is on my ignore list because I enjoy not seeing his trolling.

In an effort to replicate "field conditions" I threw an Abbree tactical tape measure antenna into a tree in my yard about 15-20' up and connected it to the repeater with 40' of KMR400 coax. Unsurprisingly, the results were very terrain-dependent. To my S/SW, Red Hill blocks my signals pretty effectively and I get barely 1/2 mile. To my W/NW, where the hill only partially blocks me, I got a couple of miles. To the east, I was able to get 11 miles until I went down the far side of a ridge, and to the northeast I got 13. I wasn't able to test it to the southeast or due north because there are no convenient roads. Considering how little altitude I had, that's pretty good. If I were on top of Red Hill, I probably could get a good 15 miles in every direction. I plan to get a 25-30' push-up mast and a better antenna for my RV, which should give reasonably good range. If I can get a good location, it should allow us to make some pretty long trail rides and stay in contact.

You shouldn't feel that way at all.  There are some here that seem to relish in making derogatory or incendiary comments for no apparent reason.
They fail to remember that folks that are new to radio may still be learning about radio technology and inquire about things that folks with 30 plus years of experience just take for granted. 
So again, welcome to radio and try to enjoy it's benefits, but like everything else, remember you might run into some individuals that aren't as friendly about it as others.
 

I love reading the questions and answers. Keep asking! 
Welcome to the group! 
Best Regards! 

Don’t feel stupid. Ask your questions. There’s a great group of people here that are willing to help. A lot of this isn’t common sense knowledge and alot of the info online is hard to navigate for a newcomer. 

Antennas typically consist of reactive elements and radiating elements. The reactive elements are used to match the impedance of the radio and feedline which is usually 50 ohms. The radiating element is one or more metal wires or rods that convert the signal into RF. It’s usually the most visible part of the antenna. 

Welcome, Zack!

The FCC doesn’t collect a physical station address for either amateur or GMRS. They’ve stated that a PO Box is fine. 

I just recently purchase the KG-1000G+ and today we had our repeater net.  After it was over I tasked the net master with some questions about performance of the radio.  I did a 5, 20, 50 watt check into the repeater 21 miles out.  He said R9 on all three.  I assume that because I swapped from a 7.2dBi to a 9.8dBi antenna and swapped out some M&P hyperflex13 to 1/2" Heliax hardline.  I always had a hard time getting into the repeater using 5 watts on the old setup.
And then I asked about the microphone.  I did a check basically kissing the mic, 6-8" away and 12-14" away.  He said when I was at a foot he noticed the modulation tapering off.  That 6-8" seemed best.
With the KG XS20G+ I have to kiss the mic to get a good modulation out of it.  My TD H3 has a far better modulation profile than the 20G.  It also has an adjustable mic gain.

Welcome to the forums. Only people in the Denver area are likely to be able to talk to you because of the distance limitations of GMRS. Your best bet would be to look at the map here to see what repeaters exist in your area and look at the clubs to see which ones are in your area. 

Antennas typically consist of reactive elements and radiating elements. The reactive elements are used to match the impedance of the radio and feedline which is usually 50 ohms. The radiating element is one or more metal wires or rods that convert the signal into RF. It’s usually the most visible part of the antenna. 

Hi Dave,
 
Gil, @wruu653, pointed out that the repeaters appear in a search if you turn on Stale and Offline repeaters. But then I found something weird, a mismatch (I think?) between map view and tabular view.  If I do a tabular data repeater search to include stale and offline, both repeaters appear on the map.  But if I go to map first and turn on those two switches for stale and offline, the repeaters don’t appear on the map. I have written to Rich, the site administrator, to learn what I might be doing wrong.  
Anyway, if you do a repeater search to include Stale and Offline repeaters, both Eureka repeaters appear in the list, allowing you to select them. If you do that they appear on the map and more importantly the owner’s call sign is available for you to contact him.
You might want to contact the owner and ask him to update his data on the site.

Welcome to the forums. Only people in the Denver area are likely to be able to talk to you because of the distance limitations of GMRS. Your best bet would be to look at the map here to see what repeaters exist in your area and look at the clubs to see which ones are in your area. 

Welcome to the exciting and dynamic world of GMRS!  ... 
One word of warning: Be wary of the trolls here on the forum that tell you that you're doing everything wrong and "if your radio cant transmit 200 miles you should throw it into the trash can" ...   He's just a rheet-hard, and other than him everyone here is pretty cool.

Many HF antennas were made with twin lead wire from Radio Shack. And I still have a great set of Radio Shack Realistic speakers that still sound great after 40+ years.
I have to agree with @SteveShannon, I would rather use a good quality 75 ohm coax over some cheap craptastic 50 ohm coax.
I don't even like using the cheap Amazon or eBay coax for short jumpers even though loss is not a factor with such short lengths. The biggest issue I have is the lack of shielding in the cheap stuff.

I worked at Radio Shack when I was in high school back in the TRS-80 Model 1/3 and CoCo days. I wrote a spreadsheet with VisiCalc (long before Excel or even Lotus) to track golf handicaps for a local golf course and we must have sold at least 50 Model III's to almost every golf course in So Cal just for that spreadsheet.
About the coolest thing I can remember was the radio tech that tuned my 148GTL-DX when they first came out (early-mid 80's). He had a Commodore Vic 20 with a Kantronics interface connected to a HF rig decoding RTTY and CW on the fly. I just thought that was so cool - to hear/see radio Cuba (and it's propaganda) RTTY news on a CRT/TV without a teletype in real time made a impression in my early years that last until today.
 

You’re just a young guy!
Before Tandy Radio Shack there was Allied Radio Shack and before Allied Radio Shack there was Allied Radio and Radio Shack, two separate companies. Allied Radio was a well respected competitor of Lafayette. 
Not everything sold by Radio Shack has been poor quality. They even sold some reasonable quality coax but they also sold some crappy coax as well. 
Personally I prefer to stay away from inexpensive coax. I would rather use quad shielded RG6 for UHF, even at 75 ohms, than some of the lossy 50 ohm cable.  

Someone mentioned intentionally using a former address. 

Thanks for the compliment! And all this time I thought I was old and decrapitated.
I agree, I think Tandy ruined Radio Shack. It was a downward spiral for decades. I always liked the catalogs back then. There's a site that has PDFs of every year they printed. From what I remember during my CB days back in the 70s, Radio Shack's RG8 was only offered with foam core and the braided shield was horrible. For CB we didn't care. I don't think any of us today would buy their cable since we have so many great options.

You’re just a young guy!
Before Tandy Radio Shack there was Allied Radio Shack and before Allied Radio Shack there was Allied Radio and Radio Shack, two separate companies. Allied Radio was a well respected competitor of Lafayette. 
Not everything sold by Radio Shack has been poor quality. They even sold some reasonable quality coax but they also sold some crappy coax as well. 
Personally I prefer to stay away from inexpensive coax. I would rather use quad shielded RG6 for UHF, even at 75 ohms, than some of the lossy 50 ohm cable.  

Man... I remember when I first bought the TRASH80. So many people talk crap about it, but man did I have fun with that thing. I learned how to write shells and programs using that thing.  Backup and restore to a cassette tape was too funny, too.
 
Radio Shack was a great store for two-way radios all the way up to when computers, cell phones and satellite TV became mainstream. I literally bought components to do repairs if I had a customer waiting on a job and I ran out of resistors, capacitors and standard 3-leg transistors... occasionally ordering bulk ICs, and PAs for radios I was commonly repairing or upgrading. The good old days of peaking, opening up modulation, adding channels. Good times.