I am new to r/c flying and am trying to find out all the info I need. I was told to find a local club so I checked out a few and have some questions about joining clubs. For starters, are there normally fees accossiated with joining r/c clubs? This one I was looking at charged an initial $30 joining fee then $65 a year. Does that seem like a lot or is that normal? Also, from what I read most clubs do not accept you if you are not a member of AMA. Does AMA have a fee also? If so, how can a newbie such as I get into this hobby without having to start out spending a fortune? I already have a plane, but without a place to fly its useless and to get a place to fly I must join a club which also require you to be in AMA. I read that you can just find a place that does not prohibit flying, but where do I find that info out? In the beggining I thought I could just find a large field and go flying, but I dont want to get into trouble flying around if its prohibited and joining a club seems to be an expensive venture. I would appreciate any help on this issue.

I just looked up the other club in my area and the dues are $100 signup and $75 per year. Geez.