Re 1, I notified XCY of the problem, and after some delay they told me to short 2 pins on an RS-232 port and check -- something. I've asked for clarification, but I don't see how I can plug my weather station's serial cable into a DE9 port that has a shunt shorting two pins together.
Shorting put these pins is a common practice with rs232 serial communications as it simulates having a modem connected. RS232 has pins to wake up a modem or to start it transmitting. A good example I came across are the weather stations that NIWA were using around the central north island in very remote places. These were solar powered so were very low powered. They also used a single frequency radio interface in half duplex mode. So when it wanted to transmit, it would change the status on the pins, which would wake up the modem, then wait for the transmitter to turn on and it would send the message using the TX pins then reverse the status on the pin to turn off the transmitter so it could resume listening on the same frequency. The rs232 interface was ideally suited for controlling the modem/radio.
If you search for the term “null modem” there are various articles about how it is done. Depending on whether you can get inside the devices or not, the easiest method is usually to do the shunts on the connecting cables by getting into the plugs at each end. Jaycar sell some null modem cables for this purpose.
This is just FYI as it sounds like you may have already sorted the problem.
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