Part 15 devices are drowning HF bands in noise and FCC cannot enforce

The proliferation of unintentional RF emitters — cheap LED drivers, switching power supplies, solar microinverters, power-line networking adapters, and USB 3.0 cables — has raised the urban HF noise floor by 20-30 dB over the past two decades. Who has this problem? Every amateur radio operator trying to receive weak signals on HF bands (1.8-30 MHz) in suburban or urban areas. So what? A signal that would be perfectly readable at S3 in a rural area is buried under S7-S9 noise in a typical suburban neighborhood. So what? Operators cannot work DX (distant stations), participate in contests, or — critically — receive emergency traffic from stations running low power during disasters. So what? The entire value proposition of amateur HF radio as a last-resort communication system degrades as noise sources multiply. Why does this persist? FCC Part 15 emission limits were set in the 1980s based on protecting TV reception at relatively close range, not protecting sensitive HF receivers. The FCC's Enforcement Bureau has fewer than 30 field agents for the entire country, making it impossible to investigate individual noise complaints. Manufacturers of cheap consumer electronics face no real consequence for exceeding Part 15 limits.