I was checking out the Berkshire R/C Flying club located in Pittsfield, MA.
http://berkshirerc.com/ and it is very close to me, about 5-10 minutes away. They do not mention how much the membership fees are, how would I find this out ahead of time? Or should I just go to the field for a visit and get to know other members? What are the average membership fees for clubs? Is it per year or monthly?

Any info on how clubs work please help.

They do mention you have to be a proven member of the AMA.

I also checked out the AMA membership terms (application) https://www.modelaircraft.org/Member...?verified=true and it states at the bottom

Your total comes to: $58.00

Am I assuming correctly that is per year?

G'day Mate,
Go to the field & introduce yourself, they will be happy to give you all the info you need.
Usually the fees are for a full year.

AMA dues are 58@yr. Go to the field and meet everybody. If you need flight instruction see what they have and talk with an instructor. Don't worry if you're not a member of the AMA yet.

Most of the clubs I have looked into will let you visit and take some initial training lessons without joining. The last club I belonged to would let you fly 5 times but you had to be on a bubby box with an AMA certified instructor, and you had to have your AMA membership. I went to several of their meetings and eventually joined. Their dues were $75/yr, but they did not prorate. I joined in the middle of the year but had to pay full price. I assumed (should never do that) my next years dues would be 1/2 (that's how the AMA does it). But alas, I was told I had to pay for a full year again. I decided not to rejoin.
So, like Allan from down under said, go and introduce yourself, and ask a lot of questions.

if you go to the membership tab on the club website it tells you there is a $15 intiation fee and $40 annual dues

The club has an initiation fee of $15 and annual membership dues of $40 per year for adults and $20 for youths. This is pretty reasonable. I found this on their [link=http://berkshirerc.com/files/rcapp.pdf]online application[/link], which is on their [link=http://berkshirerc.com/member.html]membership page[/link].

You didn't rejoin? I wonder why that is?

If you do the math, $75.00/year comes down to $6.25/month.

I can tell you that with our club, which does not pro-rate either and also charges $75.00/year. The capital property is worth well more than that would generate over a years collection from every member, let alone the ability to fly there whenever you wish. If it's a money issue, then perhaps it's not worth the effort to join any club nor to fly RC. $75.00 per year is not an expense worth squabbling over, that's for sure, no matter if they pro-rate it or not.

Of course, this is just my opinion, but as our club's President, I find that anyone that argues about that fee is just not listenening to the facts nor is that person aware of all that the club has to endure. For instance, we have two fields. Both require mowing, porta-potties, road maintenance, one requires lighting (electrical power), and regular field maintenance such as when the jerks with their 4WD trucks come in and do spirals and spins and donuts and tear up the flying field and leave their empty beer cans as a jesture of kindness. Someone has to clean that up then fix the field and all that takes money. Your $75.00 annual dues begins to make some sense if you take a moment to look at it. What we do, though, is if someone joins in, say October or November we count that as the next year's dues and let it go at that. It's just not worth the effort to collect two months dues then charge another $75 for the next year.

That's my opinion and, unlike some other people, I don't have others..

DS

Most clubs and the AMA terminate memberships at the end of the calandar year. Some clubs will pro-rate membership to some degree. It makes it a LOT easier on the club treasurer to keep tabs on who owes what and when. As a club treasurer I can attest to that.

The AMA offers an introductory membership:

$19.95 cost for duration of program Membership valid for 3 months from date of acceptance, expires at end of 3rd full month, USA only. Fees are transferable to a full membership within the ninety day program (You must contact the AMA Membership department at 1-87-RENEWAMA (1-877-363-9262) before your trial membership expires).

I joined my club in October of last year for $60 and they made my membership good throughout 2007 as well.

I joined the AMA I think it's September, and they did the same thing.

QUESTION: How long after paying the initiation fee will I have to pay the membership dues? Will I have to pay at same time or say maybe three months after the initiation fee?

That kind of question is the kind of thing you should ask the club, since it may vary club to club.

Generally, they are paid at the same time, at least they are at my club. The reason for the one-time fee is usually to go in to an account to pay for field improvements or save for a new field. Often times (as at our club) people who were members at some time in the past were assessed a set amount for a one-time big expense of building a field. To keep everyone from quiting the club, then re-joining later, after the fee "expired", it was made into a perminant one-time fee for all new members.

I'm a junior and dues are 10 but for adults they are 75 with a 15 initiation fee. You also need ama at any field so get it soon. Some club will let you train for a while without ama or join and may even have a club trainer. Go to the club and visit. I'm sure the guy are friendly and will answer all question. I bet as soon as you get home from visiting the club you will join ama and fill out the papers to join. Oh and club and ama dues are usually yearly. If you join the club midyear they may have a discounted price.

Found the club field today but it was closed up, too windy I guess. I will be joining AMA by this coming Friday, I want to have a membership before signing up for membership at club. And I am not worried about a club trainer, I own a Sig Kadet Seniorita I will use if they can help me set it up and inspect it. I also own a Tower Trainer 40 I can use shortly if I can find someone who can help me discover why the rudder servo is buzzing when there is no apparent binding that I can see. I also own a LT-40 that I have to reinstall the radio system and engine and some other moderate work to set it back up, so you can see I have plenty to learn on.

Wow Tigerdude. You have a newbies heaven. Go with the LT40 , if it`s in pretty good shape. And both your other planes are good planes to learn on also. The LT 40`s , 70 in wing makes it easier to see, they are gentle on newbies and can take a pounding.

I had alot of time on my hands this winter. The LT-40 was built last Summer but never got around to flying.
The Seniorita and Tower Trainer were done this winter. On top of that (as if that wasn't enough) I am completing a Lanier Super Trainer ST-40 that I converted to electric. The fuselage is completed and the bottom of the wing. I am also building a LT-25 with a .32 for power (see build thread in kit building forum). Like I said I had alot of time and was bored as all heck, I already had the kits (put aside for more than six months) and building is a great part of this hobby. But now I am so excited about finally learning the flying part not the crashing part but there will prob be plenty of those as well

And like RCKen and bruce88123 and others are always saying, do the math:

A year of learning > > >
Initiation fee for flying club = $15.00
Annual fee for flying club = $40.00
Annual fee for AMA apprx. = $58.00
Apprx. total to learn for a year $113.00

A heck of a lot cheaper than replacing a crashed airplane you tried to teach yourself to fly.