Hi Guys,
Thanks for the replies.
The (buffer[7] = buffer[5] error was because it was 4 in the morning and I had worked on it way too long. The characters after the 5th weren't used in the compare, they were only for display so that I could get some idea on if it were successful. Thanks for seeing that.

Dave, I have looked at quite a few examples of compares and they are not yet clicking with me. The data is coming in @ 9600, so its not too fast, but I still manage to miss it.
I've looked at this, this, and this. They all have good examples and I should be able to build something, but as of yet, no banana.

I think my best answer is to just try again and dissect these and try to code them for my use. I will have to understand this better.

Thanks
Bo