ORLANDO, Fla. — The satellite dish signals one thing. This is no ordinary camper.

While other campers are riding bikes from the beach or barbecuing their dinners, John Liberski might spend hours trying to position his satellite dish so he can watch a NASCAR race in the comfort of his 30-foot-long recreational vehicle.

Given the leafy tree canopy of Anastasia State Park, that is no easy task. On a recent weekend, Liberski, 63, of Fort Pierce, Fla., finally hits pay dirt when he finds a small clearing on the edge of the campground road, where the dish is clearly visible to passers-by and campers.

The neighbors don’t seem to mind. After all, they came with their own electronic gadgets.

Ted and Melinda Fryman of Lake City, Fla., have an entire entertainment center packed inside their RV — DVD player, computer, CD player and AM-FM radio, plus an antenna that lets them receive signals from five TV stations while they’re camping on the outskirts of St. Augustine, Fla.

Their 16-year-old son, Christopher, divides his time between surfing (the waves) and playing Nintendo games.

“So he’s not really camping,” says his mom, with a laugh.

If you haven’t been camping lately, you might be in for a shock.

The wilderness isn’t what it used to be. Today’s campers come equipped with cell phones, computers, televisions and video games. As electronic gadgets have become more portable, Americans have begun toting them everywhere — even into the great outdoors. So private campgrounds and state parks are adding electronic amenities to keep campers happy.

Recently, company officials at Kampgrounds of America polled campers about amenities they’d like to see. High on the list were cable and phone lines and wireless Internet access.

To appease its customers — whose average age is over 50 — KOA is installing Wi-Fi wireless Internet access at all its campgrounds.

Of course, computers are only the latest gadget to invade campgrounds. As baby boomers have aged, they’ve given up tents for motor homes and luxury RVs.

And with those RVs come amenities. Coffee makers, microwaves, DVD players, TVs, “campground-ready telephones.” Many large RVs are equipped with not one but two air-conditioners.

“The great majority of campers these days are in some kind of RV,” says Paul Crawford, manager of Anastasia State Park and a 30-year veteran of the state park system. “You just have a lot fewer people who want to rough it.”

Nowadays, even tent campers bring the comforts of home. “They will have TVs, fans; the kids will bring Gameboys,” he says. When Crawford worked at Bahia Honda State Park in the Keys, he was astounded to find people sleeping in a tent — with a window-unit air conditioner.

For veteran tent campers, there’s something shameful about the way Americans camp today.

“When you sleep in an enclosed box that has air conditioning and heating, it’s not camping per se,” says Johnny Molloy, who has penned more than a dozen books on tent camping.

But Molloy’s pet peeve is camping next to RVs.

“You know what annoys me? The glow from the RV’s TV screen flashing onto the picnic table while you’re cooking your dinner over the fire,” says Molloy. “It ain’t exactly the northern lights.”