6) I have seem some guys put GMRS repeaters in their house. Several of them spending thousands of dollars all under the context of SHTF. What is the point of having a repeater at your house?
Repeaters are generally used to increase the range of mobile and portable units. For example, let's say my repeater has a 50 mile range. Somebody 50 miles due east of my repeater can get in. Somebody 50 miles due west of my repeater can get in. The two users on their own without the repeater might never be able to communicate with each other, because they are 100 miles apart. With the repeater, they can now communicate.
This is especially useful when dealing with mobile or portable (i.e. handheld) units. A pair of handhelds might never be able to communicate with each other, but as long as they can hit the repeater, they can.
In another real world example, there is a ham radio repeater in the mountains about 50 miles from me here in Southern California. That repeater can reach all the way out to almost Las Vegas, NV. A few months ago, using a 1 watt handheld radio, I was able to talk to my friend in his car almost to Las Vegas. That would never be possible without the repeater, even if I was using a high powered base station.
In your specific situation, your family/friends might be able to communicate with you, but not with each other. If you had a repeater at your house, everyone would be able to communicate together, assuming they could reach your location on their radios.
