(I first got my ticket back in 1974, so I appreciate your recollection)
As an amateur operator, I am concerned with frequency allocation and likely unintentional interference. CF and LED lights, poorly designed switching power supplies, Internet over power lines, harmonics from BC stations, cracked power line insulators, faulty power line transformers, etc., etc., etc. cause interference in portions of the spectrum where an emitter is not licensed and really raise havoc.
(For those who aren’t amateur operators, consider this: have you ever gone through a part of your town where you simply CAN’T pick up your favorite AM radio because of all the noise? Chances are, interference from one of the above sources are messing with a part of the spectrum that is “owned” by the station you want to listen to...it’s a lot worse for amateur operators because the signals we try to receive are generally a lot lower than your favorite AM station)
There needs to be some sort of enforcement of that very technical issue. Not saying that it needs to be the FCC (could be NTIA for example or a technical services division within DOJ), but it is definitely needed.
(Again, for those who aren’t amateur operators, chances are you would want to have some sort of legal recourse to keep squatters off of your land or to investigate somebody who repeatedly dumps bags and bags of their garbage on your front yard. This is no different)
It is rarely handled otherwise.
BUT, many “type accepted” household appliances emit spurious radiation (ie FR noise). You're correct. There needs to be a place those technical issues can be resolved.
I'm remodeling our house at the farm. The nearest neighbor there is 1/2 mile away. smile. But I will still have to pacify my wife if I interfere with her TV. (no comment on the TV receiver's front end, hee hee hee)
My next door neighbor has something in their house that emits RFI starting on 40m and goes down through 75/80m. It's LOUD too. I had to put up a nulling antenna just to get rid of it and hear on those bands again. Been telling them for eight years about it. They're willfully ignorant. FCC will do NOTHING about it, never has despite constant complaints and audio recordings and video recordings of the interference and how much worse it is the closer I get to their home.
I realize it's a funding & enforcement issue --- but for eight years?!
I guess either we have an FCC that looks into these kinds of issues and acutally FINES people for willful/malicious/intentional interference or we don't.
Having said that, I am NOT in favor of disbanding the FCC, but it needs a serious set of reforms that re-purpose/re-focus its mission and gets it away from this internet regulation nonsense (For starters.)