How can I shorten this code - 16 1's and 0's into one number

[Christopher4187]

This is a little above my level. I see a potential problem but I'm not 100% sure. I think I can only send max word variables so the sendpacket would be 2 word variables, right? This is what my TX side looks like (I put known numbers in there for now so I know what to expect on the receiving end):

SENDPACKET.0[0]=1
SENDPACKET.0[1]=1
SENDPACKET.0[2]=1
SENDPACKET.0[3]=1
SENDPACKET.0[4]=1
SENDPACKET.0[5]=0
SENDPACKET.0[6]=1
SENDPACKET.0[7]=0
SENDPACKET.0[8]=1
SENDPACKET.0[9]=1
SENDPACKET.0[10]=1
SENDPACKET.0[11]=1
SENDPACKET.0[12]=1
SENDPACKET.0[13]=0
SENDPACKET.0[14]=1
SENDPACKET.0[15]=0

sum = SENDPACKET.0[0]+SENDPACKET.0[1]+SENDPACKET.0[2]+SENDPACKET.0[3]+SENDPACKET.0[4]+SENDPACKET.0[5]+SENDPACKET.0[6]+SENDPACKET.0[7]+SENDPACKET.0[8]+SENDPACKET.0[9]+SENDPACKET.0[10]+SENDPACKET.0[11]+SENDPACKET.0[12]+SENDPACKET.0[13]+SENDPACKET.0[14]+SENDPACKET.0[15]

HSEROUT [9,sendpacket,12]

The RX side looks like this:

IF RCSTA.1 = 1 THEN xfer  'USART overflow error - bad data
  HSERIN 30, xfer, [start1, sendpacket,sum]
  
  IF start1 <> 9 THEN xfer 
  
  datasum = sendpacket 
  IF datasum = sum THEN errorflag = 0   

 
xfer:


  IF errorflag = 0 THEN
  high led

  
  
  
B1 = SENDPACKET.0[0]
B2 = SENDPACKET.0[1]
B3 = SENDPACKET.0[2]
B4 = SENDPACKET.0[3]
B5 = SENDPACKET.0[4]
B6 = SENDPACKET.0[5]
B7 = SENDPACKET.0[6]
B8 = SENDPACKET.0[7]
B1 = SENDPACKET.0[8]
B2 = SENDPACKET.0[9]
B3 = SENDPACKET.0[10]
B4 = SENDPACKET.0[11]
B5 = SENDPACKET.0[12]
B6 = SENDPACKET.0[13]
B7 = SENDPACKET.0[14]
B8 = SENDPACKET.0[15]

ENDIF