Bloody useless, because there is absolutely nothing to listen to. In olden times every country has their own shortwave radio. And in many languages too, you could heard Finnish from BBC, Radio Moscow, Soviet Estonia, Soviet Karelia, Sweden and Voice of America. Sources were conflicting hugely, like with "minor gas leak" from Chernobyl and "hooligans causing disturbances" in Czechoslovakia.
While there are less public broadcasts on shortwave then there once were, there is still plenty of utility stations, radio amateurs, and various other uses. By no means "bloody useless"
