I found that I needed to set the RS-232 drive pin high some milliseconds before sending data. Otherwise I just got a string of gibberish on the terminal.

This is to put the RS232 output low which is the defined MARK or IDLE condition for the RS-232 interface.

Try something like...

High portb.2
pause 5
hserout [12,"* LED FADER *"]

HTH
BrianT