WRTJ860

Welcome!  
Randy (NotaRubicon) is on here under the name of @OffRoaderX.  
Steve

Wouxun does (and has) fixed things that were 'wrong' on their radios that I have pointed out - but as far as just "suggestions", I'm not sure I've actually suggested any to them.

Local repeater because of myself and Rolund (a local super user, why he's a regular on about 7-8 repeaters) pretty much have to have a Round Robin system ,since now a days our little conversations have attracted more than a handful of users.  Jokingly, said we should just assign a net controller or at least some system so we do not double as much.
FYI. Rolund has been on the Harrisburg repeaters and is a regular on the Mount Holly, Ellicott, and Towson nets.
It really depends on the repeaters and the personalities that use it. Some won't even respond unless you know them or are asking for a radio check. You get the same thing with ham repeaters.
Just keep calling out on the repeater and have conversations. You'll probably end up with some people with like minded thoughts. That is how it starts, then it goes into in person meets, and spending holidays with them...lol
Also look at the GMRS zello groups, there is someone usually looking for somebody to talk to.
 

I my location there is a general "Net" meeting once a month on the GMRS repeater. It's run similar to what you hear on Ham repeaters simply because the format works. Lately there is a "Prepper's Net" on Tuesday nights each week. I think the current roster has about 177 registered users for the repeater. The repeater is owned by the City of Troy and was their backup machine for the fire department in the beginning.

Sometimes people do. Really depends on your local repeaters/linked repeaters.

While it's specifically not my call, I don't believe that personal nodes are allowed on the system.  Has to be a repeater with reasonable coverage. 
That being said, how this is being accomplished is not some super secret thing that you can't have info on.  It's really nothing more than a IP PBX (Asterisk) running some additional software to allow it to communicate to radios.  That being said, Hams refer to it as ALL-Star link and there are tons of pages that will lay out how to do it with very cheap parts.  And you really DON'T need to be on a system.  You just need one end of it to have a public IP on the Internet so the other node can always find it.  Two nodes that are aware of each other that are programmed to connect to each other will do so without any additional servers.
Now that's out of the way, remember that this DOES use the Internet to provide connection between the nodes.  This system is no different.  Having expectation that it's going to work in the event of a disaster is setting yourself up for a serious disappointment.  So that that under advisement.
 

You are not allowed to enjoy a GMRS communication; those are limited to FRS ?

Made first contact yesterday with these two Kool guys, i kind of interrupted their conversation (when there was a pause) i tried to be as polite as i could I'm very new to all this, but Mike and Tim were a hoot especially Mike, I'm sure if regulations were somewhat lax that conversation could've gotten a lil crazy. It was quick but fun i just wanted to thank them again and hope the rest of my contacts go the same.

Hey there everyone, just wanted to stop in and say hey. Like the Title says I'm new to GMRS. Just got my license and a handheld and live near the linglestown (351) repeater. My call sign is WRTJ860 if any in the area wants to chat, my radio is usually on I'm still trying to figure this all out, especially reprograming of the radio to my liking which is an older Baofeng 82HP to learn on. i will take any and all advice and look forward to meeting and talking to whomever i meet, Ron