All - it is now working!
There were aparantly two issues:
Needed two carriage return line feeds at the end - discovered when altenbach suggested turning on the \-codes on the string.
The timing of the two second loop for sending the data needed to take place before closing the port - this is new and was not needed before - I am posting the working code in hopes that it may help someone else down the road.
Once again the forums come through - thank you for your assistance.
Dave
