Quansheng K6 is a neat little radio. I purchased one. Flashed Ezgumer v0.22 firmware onto it. Disabled transmit completely being non-licensed. I enjoy the radio for it's aircraft band coverage and other terrestrial signals. Ham radio in Oklahoma City on 2m/70cm is lacking in activity badly but I keep a few frequencies plugged into it. I thought maybe this radio will impress upon me to push to retest but nope. Been down that road before. Noone transmits ion 2m/70cm like they did back in the early 2000's. I used to ragchew on repeaters when I had a license a lot. Would be a waste of tech license with no one to gab with on a repeater.
So you hams want new people? Get a campaign going to get 2m/70cm active a lot more and really push hard. Noone wants to do digital and or voice in a dead ham band. Oklahoma City really needs hours per day activity. I have no idea why repeaters are still up in Oklahoma City because usage is really sparse. Maybe ham radio needs a fresh new start with younger minds beefing up activity because the older hams won't.
I'm not even sure where to start here. Yes, ham radio isn't what it was in the 90's or early 2000's as far as repeaters go, nor will it ever be again. (at least I don't think so). There is a little repeater activity here near St. Louis, a few nets that get a fair amount of of check-ins, but other than that pretty quiet during the day.
Not to be rude, but you've bought a 30 buck HT, likely no bonafide outside antenna and you're saying the bands are dead. Well ya, ok...
I cannot speak to your area but the same thing would happen in my area too unless....you perhaps got a different radio, outside antenna with proper coax, and then spun that VFO around. There is a lot of simplex comms in my area, on 2 meters, 1.25 meters, 70CM and 33 CM on FM. Weekends there's multiple groups of folks on different frequencies and we welcome everyone into the fray. Just key up and talk.
On Thursday nights, there is a 2 meter SSB net, and people (that I've worked with a modest 2 meter loop at only 20 feet) check in and I can work people 75-150 miles away, and the bigger station guys get 200 + mile contacts.
Recently 2 new 33 cm repeaters have come on the air in our area and there's talk of linking them to some 1.25 meter repeaters, and you know what? These guys are all "OLDER". I'm 70 and the other fellow involved is 77.
I will agree I don't know why some repeaters are still on the air that sit idly day in and out, but should we choose to use them, they're still there. If all you're doing is listening and not keying up and calling out, (I saw the no license part) you may not get activity. If everyone else simply has radios sitting there scanning, ya, no one is talking.
Ham radio. has many facets and there's something in it that people usually find that they like and they stay with that. In the mid 90s I had a linked repeater system, all RF linked none of this internet stuff, and it was hard to get a word in edgewise at times. Lost the site cause I wasn't willing to pay 750 a month per site to keep my stuff on the air.
As
@buddrousa said the generation wants it now, and why go thru all the trouble to do all the stuff required to have an actual "ham radio station" when they can accomplish the same thing with an HT, hotspot and internet. You yourself have invested virtually nothing into the hobby, and while that's fine of course, and I don't blame you, perhaps get involved see what you personally can do to help the hobby.
Unfortunately though, the times they are a changing for many people, and they just don't want to go to the effort to get licensed, put up a station, and get on the air with all this internet stuff happening. I dabbled in that a little over a month and decided the internet stuff was not for me. (hotspots) Occasionally I do get on one of the Illinois link rooms, but at that, I do it thru thru a repeater not a hotspot from my house.
I'm on the air a lot, with a 30 plus year old Kenwood TM741 so I can effectively monitor 3 bands at one time, a Motorola 33cm radio and an HF radio that I listen and work various bands on including 6 and 10 meters (which a technician class can use) and have a blast.
Good luck on whatever you decide. It's not what it used to be but you can make the best of what it is now.
73-Greg