I'm a bit annoyed by the closed and Windows-only nature of VARA (see also discussion https://old.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/12d2s3e/would...), but well, it works well as far as I've heard.
Dxcluster used to use a lot of radio links to disseminate data. However fixed internet lines have become much cheaper, so there isn't the need to have massive HF antenna to create relay link any more.
HF is having quite a resurgance among various militaries.
Given that space communications and the militarization of space is becoming more and more prevalent, we are on the cusp of seeing some military actions in space that could render a few defense agencies impotent with regards to C3.
Also, OsmoDevCon is iirc invite-only, making linking to its schedule on a public forum mostly pointless (visit #osmocom on Libera for more info; disclaimer: I wasn't invited, either). Unless, of course, a recording would be added (which it probably will), but it's not true yet (as the event didn't took place yet?)
But what is it actually used for today? Or is it rather one of those we do, because we can?
Calling something “high”, “fast”, or “new” is rarely a naming decision that’ll stand the test of time, but given that there were already LF and MF below it, it did make sense at the time. Who could have predicted we’d go up all the way into visible light with our RF communications?
The only thing on a lower frequency used daily by most people would be contactless payment cards and maybe NFC at around 13 MHz.
Honestly the naming scheme makes sense to me. The spectrum is divided into 12 bands of equal (log) size, up to a frequency where we don't know whether such waves will ever be reliably generated at room temperature without breaking the laws of physics. Then these bands are consistently named from "extremely low" to "extremely high", with an extra annoying band at the top. Really, it could be worse.
In addition to that, hams (in study materials and exams) use wavelengths, which is always "fun" to convert from/to frequencies.
In a way suitable for even medium range RF communication? No. That's what I mean. The required power would be insanely high. So high that it's not achievable without some breakthrough. I didn't literally mean "break the laws of physics", because that's something we obviously cannot do.
Best regards, 50 years ago