OK got your message after I tried with the DEC modifier ;-) nothing worked !
So I removed it and .....
The LCD now shows the correct characters as per what I type in 123 etc and the ABCD keys as well as # and * ....YAY.....
but sadly now nothing appears in hyperterminal ....
Does SEROUT now need to be replaced by SEROUT2 ?
Will try it later and post results either way :-)
Need some sleep now ..
Thanks so much for your continued help :-) much appreciated !

Keep well

Kind regards
Dennis

OH .. by the way .. do you maybe know how I could capture a keyin of the number say 135 # so that it is actually stored as binary or decimal 135 ?