The 2002 Leonid meteor shower presents a viewing challenge, what with a full Moon threatening to drown out 75 percent or more of all the shooting stars. There are tricks, however, to entirely overcome this problem, so long as you dont mind a little indirect observation.

In fact, Nature plans to broadcast the Leonids on radio and television, regardless of weather, moonlight or even daylight.

Though not widely known outside the circle of serious meteor observers, you can always detect shooting stars on a regular FM radio or a television set.

On the FM band, you stand the best chance of success by monitoring the low-end of the band, below 91.1 MHz. Thats because most low-power stations are found there, generally free of local interference from the higher-power commercial stations that are found farther up the dial.

"I think the FM broadcast band would be best for most people, if they can find a clear frequency, preferably near the low end of the band," says long time amateur radio operator, Shelby Ennis (W8WN) of Kentucky. "A small external antenna would help."

Tune to a blank spot on a specific frequency. From altitudes of 60 to 90 miles, meteors are capable of reflecting signals from stations 1,000 miles or more away.

So exactly what are you trying to hear?

A bright meteor can cause a distant radio station to suddenly come blaring in loud and clear for a fraction of a second (referred to by radio amateurs as a "ping"). Or, depending on how long the trail of ionized gas persists, you may continue to hear the stations signal albeit much weaker for perhaps 10 to 20 seconds or more.

Youll have better success if you turn can off the stereo and "mute" functions on your FM radio. Radios with an indoor antenna are okay, but youll do much better with an antenna that is mounted outdoors.

Another radio amateur who monitors meteor showers on radio, Ilkka Yrjölä at (OH5IY) of Kuusankoski, Finland, notes that "indoor antennas pick up noise from household electronics and FM radio signals may actually be severely attenuated by the walls, though one may receive all the local stations just fine. An outdoor antenna is something to have, or if the conditions are no good, drive a car to a park, or outside the city to a relatively clear spot and listen to FM from there."

Ennis agrees on this final point. "Some have done well just sitting in their car, watching the sky and monitoring the FM band that way."

You can try listening anytime after the Leonid radiant comes above your local horizon (generally after 11 p.m. local time).

For those in New England and the Canadian Maritimes, this is around the time of the first predicted Leonid outburst. As such, it might be worthwhile to try and listen during the two hours or so surrounding this first peak, regardless of the actual geometry of the radiants location.

However, the very best time to listen is when the radiant is roughly halfway up above the horizon as seen from a point halfway between you and the station transmitter. From a given location, the Leonid radiant is at this height at around 3:00 a.m. local time when it is in the east-southeast sky, and again around 9:00 a.m. when its in the west-southwest.

You should try tuning to a station located in a direction perpendicular to the radiant. So, if you are listening when the radiant is up in the east-southeast sky, the better listening directions are to your north-northeast and south-southwest; when the radiant is in the west-southwest sky, try for stations to your north-northwest and south-southeast.

People in the Mountain Time Zone of North America are particularly favored, since the Leonid radiant will be at or very near the proper height above the east-southeast horizon around the time when the second outburst of meteor activity is expected to occur.

Again, you stand the best chance of success if you try tuning your receiver to a blank spot on the FM dial that is at or below 91.1 MHz.

Unfortunately, prospective listeners who live in or near large cities may run into a problem analogous to visual observers trying to find a location free of light pollution, namely, there might not be any blank spots to be found on the FM dial. If you find that this is the case in your area, dont despair.

Try watching for meteors on your TV.

Basically, television is nothing more than FM radio with pictures. Of course, in this case we are not talking about a TV set that is hooked up to a local cable outlet or a satellite dish! Were talking about using an old-fashioned TV antenna, either mounted on your roof or at the very least a smaller external antenna (such as "rabbit ears").

Look for a vacant channel between channels 2 and 6. Along with occasionally hearing the audio from a distant station suddenly bursting forth, you may actually see a picture for a few moments, or some lines across the screen as the TV set tries to lock up on a sudden signal, especially if the meteors ionization trail is particularly dense.

One thing you might want to keep in mind if youre listening to your radio while simultaneously watching the sky: Not every meteor that you see visually will result in a ping of reception.

More often than not, youll probably be hearing activity without actually seeing any meteors. The reason is that the majority of the meteors that induce enhanced reception are streaking through the atmosphere many hundreds of miles away, near or beyond your horizon.

On a typical non-Leonid night, listening for meteor activity on radio means perhaps waiting to hear an occasional ping coming through between lengthy intervals perhaps lasting many minutes. But if the Leonids attain predicted rates of a thousand per hour or more, the shower could translate into almost continuously hearing a distant station whose signal will seem to vary dramatically in intensity as it bounces off numerous meteor trails.