For the most part R/C club members tend to be pretty open folks that enjoy sharing their hobby and interests with others but there are exceptions. I suppose some get tired of fielding questions from people who may not really be intertested or some may be browned off at another potential members if there are already long waits for frequencies on weekends. Not to over generalize, but the warbird, ducted fan, jet set can spend a lot of bucks on R/C and can get a little cliquish in some parts of the country.

Your best bet may be to find a really good hobby shop specializing in R/C and then ask them for recommendations as to a club in the area. There is usually someone in the shop who also really knows their stuff and can answer most of the basic questions.

Kalmback books also has some good titles on R/C basics. One of them - "Basics of Radio Control Modeling" - sould give you a good start and answer most of the "what do I need and what should I get?" type of questions and give you a good base of information to take to a hobby store.

SOme information will need to come from club members. Stuff like " there's a lot of interference on channel 32 out by the pipeline" is stuff that is valuable information to have before you make a purchase but is stuff that will only be known to that club.