diff --git a/alarmdecoder/decoder.py b/alarmdecoder/decoder.py
index 057fb49..667ac34 100644
--- a/alarmdecoder/decoder.py
+++ b/alarmdecoder/decoder.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ Provides the main AlarmDecoder class.
 .. moduleauthor:: Scott Petersen <scott@nutech.com>
 """
 
+import sys
 import time
 import re
 
@@ -248,7 +249,15 @@ class AlarmDecoder(object):
         """
 
         if self._device:
-            self._device.write(str.encode(data))
+            if isinstance(data, str):
+                data = str.encode(data)
+
+            # Hack to support unicode under Python 2.x
+            if sys.version_info < (3,):
+                if isinstance(data, unicode):
+                    data = bytes(data)
+
+            self._device.write(data)
 
     def get_config(self):
         """