What am I doing wrong? My pics won't communicate with each other

Question

I have two pics: pic16f88 and pic16f688. The f88 is running a loop that sends a message whenever a button is pressed. I have also tried this in a timed loop where it sends every second instead of when a button is pressed.

DEFINE osc 8
osccon.4 = 1:osccon.5 = 1:osccon.6=1
ANSEL = 0

pinout var  PORTB.1
LED    VAR  PORTB.0   ' Assign name "LED" to PORTB.0
btn    var  PORTA.0

TRISA.0 = 1

myloop:
    if (not(btn)) then
    High LED        ' Turn on LED connected to PORTB.0
    Serout2 pinout,396,["PBPSUX"]
    endif
    Low LED         ' Turn off LED connected to PORTB.0

    Goto myloop

    End

And my second pic, the f688, is supposed to be waiting for the message and turn an led on if it receives anything.

DEFINE osc 8
osccon.4 = 1:osccon.5 = 1:osccon.6=1
ANSEL = 0

pinin  var  PORTA.1
LED    VAR  PORTA.0   ' Assign name "LED" to PORTB.0
test   var  byte[5]

low LED
myloop:

   Pause 500       ' Delay for .5 seconds to allow the other pic to start sending.
   low LED

   Serin2 pinin,396,[wait("P"),str test\5]

   if (test) then
      goto lighton
   endif

   pause 500
   high LED

   Goto myloop

lighton:
    high LED
    goto lighton   
End

If the second pic receives nothing it is supposed to start waiting again.

For some reason the first pic works find because it is blinking and we can see the noise using an oscilloscope from the serial. However the second pic never turns its light on.

Can anyone see what I might be doing wrong?

Answer 1

Your LED is defined wrong, so even if the chip does receive it wont actually light. Are you sure it's supposed to be PORTA.0 and not PORTB.0 like the other device?