Okay, so I moved the HIGH C.3 to the top, no help. Sending text messages works fine - to a point. If I loop to repeat sending the same messages again (over and over), it hangs up after about 2 runs. Up to that point, it sends the messages clearly.
It just seems that any sort of idle time (picaxe doing anything else - counting, sensor reading or even looping) jams up the signal to the lcd. This was my latest attempt at a simple loop command:
INIT:
HIGH C.3 'HIGH TO START ACTION??
PAUSE B2
DISCONNECT
SETFREQ M8
B2 = 5
SEROUT C.3, T9600_8, (12,17,22) 'CLEAR SCREEN, CURSOR AND TURN ON BACKLIGHT
PAUSE B2
MAIN:
DO
SEROUT C.3, T9600_8, (12)
PAUSE B2
SEROUT C.3, T9600_8, ("SENSORS")
SEROUT C.3, T9600_8, (" ON")
SEROUT C.3, T9600_8, (" LINE")
PAUSE 1000
SEROUT C.3, T9600_8, (13)
PAUSE B2
SEROUT C.3, T9600_8, ("HOW")
SEROUT C.3, T9600_8, (" DO")
SEROUT C.3, T9600_8, (" YOU")
SEROUT C.3, T9600_8, (" DO")
PAUSE 1000
SEROUT C.3, T9600_8, (13)
PAUSE B2
SEROUT C.3, T9600_8, ("SENSORS")
SEROUT C.3, T9600_8, (" ON")
SEROUT C.3, T9600_8, (" LINE")
PAUSE 1000
LOOP
The LCD screen writes "SENSORS ON LINE", "HOW TO YOU DO" AND THEN "SENSORS ON LINE". It will repeat this up to 3 times before quitting. Can you think of anything that might be going on inside the Picaxe to kill the output signal?