Yes you are right.....sorry I maybe didn't make it very clear. The protocol for the OSD is that it must see the other characters in the array (as per below) for it even to respond. According to the firmware notes is must see the preample ($GPRMC for example) from this I guess it gets how many commas to expect so that it knows it has the whole NMEA sentence. That is why I was forced to use the array in the first place. For example I just tried SEROUT2 ("$GPRMC, 00000, etc, etc,")..... is says it has a GPS connection but then stops. Using the array it confirms GPS connection and then goes on to dispay the OSD. So I thought I could fool it into showing the heading using the two methods below....but OH NO...Is there a way to send the first part of an array and then the remainder......if I could that at least I could try using the normal method you mention below.