After much twiddling and tweaking, I’ve managed to get the Sixca code to work! Not all the digits are displaying properly. I suspect Candyman561 is correct on the two right digits and they require inverting on the display to work. I’ll test that tomorrow.
EVERY fuse setting except XT must be OFF when writing the chip
Both 5Vdc and 12vdc must be triggered on at exactly the same time to get the init going, A “DPST” (Double Polarity, Single Throw) switch took care of that. You may want to try just a slider switch with both grounds tied to it, leading to a single ground point if you dont know what a DPST is.
As well, I placed a diode at the 12Vdc grounding point to prevent voltage leakage from the 12V side, This might have caused RB4 to “Pull-UP” and block the init.
DOT lines pin pin 6 of the 595's I replaced the 220ohm resistor with a 1K to stop burning holes in my eyes with those bright dots. I'll replace it with the correct value once I do the math.
Many thanks to those that assisted. Especially Mike, K8LH who has suffered my numerous emails.
Now its time to hack the code into something I want.. =)
My next step is to have a dual display, 8 digits total with but one set displaying a different time zone.
Hope this helps someone else.