diff --git a/docs/meshtastic/index.html b/docs/meshtastic/index.html
index 293bb0f..9384521 100644
--- a/docs/meshtastic/index.html
+++ b/docs/meshtastic/index.html
@@ -123,6 +123,7 @@ import google.protobuf.json_format
 import serial
 import threading
 import logging
+import time
 import sys
 import traceback
 from . import mesh_pb2
@@ -418,9 +419,17 @@ class StreamInterface(MeshInterface):
         self.stream = serial.Serial(
             devPath, 921600, exclusive=True, timeout=0.5)
         self._rxThread = threading.Thread(target=self.__reader, args=())
-        self._rxThread.start()
+
+        # Send some bogus UART characters to force a sleeping device to wake
+        self.stream.write(bytes([START1, START1, START1, START1]))
+        self.stream.flush()
+        time.sleep(0.1)  # wait 100ms to give device time to start running
+
         MeshInterface.__init__(self, debugOut=debugOut, noProto=noProto)
 
+        # Start the reader thread after superclass constructor completes init
+        self._rxThread.start()
+
     def _sendToRadio(self, toRadio):
         """Send a ToRadio protobuf to the device"""
         logging.debug(f"Sending: {toRadio}")
@@ -969,9 +978,17 @@ debugOut {stream} – If a stream is provided, any debug serial output from
         self.stream = serial.Serial(
             devPath, 921600, exclusive=True, timeout=0.5)
         self._rxThread = threading.Thread(target=self.__reader, args=())
-        self._rxThread.start()
+
+        # Send some bogus UART characters to force a sleeping device to wake
+        self.stream.write(bytes([START1, START1, START1, START1]))
+        self.stream.flush()
+        time.sleep(0.1)  # wait 100ms to give device time to start running
+
         MeshInterface.__init__(self, debugOut=debugOut, noProto=noProto)
 
+        # Start the reader thread after superclass constructor completes init
+        self._rxThread.start()
+
     def _sendToRadio(self, toRadio):
         """Send a ToRadio protobuf to the device"""
         logging.debug(f"Sending: {toRadio}")
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index de2b151..b9a36bf 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ with open("README.md", "r") as fh:
 # This call to setup() does all the work
 setup(
     name="meshtastic",
-    version="0.7.2",
+    version="0.7.3",
     description="Python API & client shell for talking to Meshtastic devices",
     long_description=long_description,
     long_description_content_type="text/markdown",