diff --git a/apps/px4io/comms.c b/apps/px4io/comms.c
index b24fba09d9..375336730a 100644
--- a/apps/px4io/comms.c
+++ b/apps/px4io/comms.c
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include <poll.h>
+#include <termios.h>
 
 #include <nuttx/clock.h>
 
@@ -69,7 +70,7 @@ static struct px4io_report	report;
 
 static void			comms_handle_frame(void *arg, const void *buffer, size_t length);
 
-void
+static void
 comms_init(void)
 {
 	/* initialise the FMU interface */
@@ -78,11 +79,20 @@ comms_init(void)
 
 	/* default state in the report to FMU */
 	report.i2f_magic = I2F_MAGIC;
+
+	struct termios t;
+
+	/* 115200bps, no parity, one stop bit */
+	tcgetattr(fmu_fd, &t);
+	cfsetspeed(&t, 115200);
+	t.c_cflag &= ~(CSTOPB | PARENB);
+	tcsetattr(fmu_fd, TCSANOW, &t);
 }
 
 void
 comms_main(void)
 {
+	comms_init();
 
 	struct pollfd fds;
 	fds.fd = fmu_fd;
diff --git a/apps/px4io/px4io.c b/apps/px4io/px4io.c
index ba16ce2472..bba236322d 100644
--- a/apps/px4io/px4io.c
+++ b/apps/px4io/px4io.c
@@ -76,6 +76,9 @@ int user_start(int argc, char *argv[])
 	/* start the safety switch handler */
 	safety_init();
 
+	/* configure the first 8 PWM outputs (i.e. all of them) */
+	up_pwm_servo_init(0xff);
+
 	/* start the flight control signal handler */
 	task_create("FCon", 
 		    SCHED_PRIORITY_DEFAULT,
@@ -84,13 +87,6 @@ int user_start(int argc, char *argv[])
 		    NULL);
 
 
-	/* initialise the FMU communications interface */
-	comms_init();
-
-	/* configure the first 8 PWM outputs (i.e. all of them) */
-	/* note, must do this after comms init to steal back PA0, which is CTS otherwise */
-	up_pwm_servo_init(0xff);
-
 	struct mallinfo minfo = mallinfo();
 	lib_lowprintf("free %u largest %u\n", minfo.mxordblk, minfo.fordblks);
 
diff --git a/apps/px4io/px4io.h b/apps/px4io/px4io.h
index 2ecab966d0..21c1482bed 100644
--- a/apps/px4io/px4io.h
+++ b/apps/px4io/px4io.h
@@ -157,7 +157,6 @@ extern void	safety_init(void);
 /*
  * FMU communications
  */
-extern void	comms_init(void);
 extern void	comms_main(void) __attribute__((noreturn));
 
 /*