The SW-3b is my favoite POTA rig. About June of 2023, the radio developed a problem with the LCD display. At first, the display would have random characters on one line. This was intermittent. As the year progressed, with each POTA activation or use, the display got progressively worse. The entire display would be garbled after a few minutes of use. The last time I tried to use it for a POTA activation in October 2023, the display was completely blank when the radio was turned on.
I spoke with Dale at Venus about the problem. He suggested re-soldering the connections of the LCD display module. There are posts on 0.1 inch centers that hold the display in place, and connect it to the rest of the radio. I re-soldered the connections on both sides of the disply – problem fixed!