Nope still no joy won't compile.

Just to clear up any confusion I'm waiting for a byte value to appear on the usart ($87) not an ascii string. I then want to gather the following data into the array. It's 9600 8,E,1 (24 bytes total in the packet inc the $87 start byte)

This compiles

Code:
HSERIN [WAIT ($87)]		'Wait for byte $87 (135 Dec)

as does this

HSERIN [WAIT (135)]		'Wait for byte $87 (135 Dec)
Looks like I will have to wait for the identifier then use another HSERIN command to get the following bytes. Problem is there is no break in the data and it follows on immdiately after the $87 if received. I hope it doesnt miss the start of the second byte

I'll try this it compiles corectly.
Code:
HSERIN [WAIT ($87)]		'Wait for packet start Byte $87  
HSERIN [STR BCMDATA\23]		'Receive following 23 bytes into array BCMDATA