having trouble writing 2D var to new nc file

Howdy experts (y'all), I wonder if I have approached this correctly. I'm
trying to take a string of 6 characters, use them to populate a 2D array
of the 6 characters (per record in the file), and then write the 2D
variable to a new netCDF file. In particular, I'm not sure my approach
(where I have "questioning this portion") is a working one. Something
isn't working because after the ncl script successfully runs, the new
netCDF file gives me an error when I do:
  ncl_filedump -v stationidstr adcp-testcase.nc

Thanks in advance, Donna

   READFN="testcase-adcp.txt"
   data = asciiread("/tmp/"+READFN,-1,"string")
   ndata = dimsizes(data)
     <snip>
     ST_ID_Str = new(ndata,"string","")
     <snip>
; arranged column numbers for column-formatted pre-processed file -dlc
   ST_ID_Str = str_get_cols(data,0,5)
     <snip>
   ST_ID_StrLen=max(strlen(ST_ID_Str)) + 1
; add 1 to account for the terminator character
     <snip>

;;;;;; questioning this portion
   nullChar = inttochar(0)
; could use nullChar to test a single char to see if it's null
   StationIDstr = new((/ndata,ST_ID_StrLen/),"character",nullChar)
   do ircd=0,ndata-1
     StationIDstr(ircd,:)=stringtochar(ST_ID_Str(ircd))
   end do
;;;;;;

     <snip, see "snippet A" below>
     <snip>
   filevardef(fout,"stationidstr","character",
(/"recordcount","ST_ID_StrLen"/))
   fout->stationidstr@_FillValue = nullChar
     <snip>
     fout->stationidstr= (/StationIDstr/)

After the nc file is created, integer and float variables look great.
But not this string changed to characters 2D variable.

I get the message:
fatal:Argument type mismatch on argument (0) of (make_var2d) can not coerce
fatal:Execute: Error occurred at or near line 135 in file
/var/folders/g9/g9wihWJCFayhpNTWt06Ksk+++TU/-Tmp-/tmp1005.ncl

P.S.
Running with NCAR Command Language Version 5.2.1

sample input file (where first six characters is the station ID) is:
423616 2010-06-01T00:06:00 27.55 -92.49 51.0 249 15.5 1 3 333393330
423616 2010-06-01T00:06:00 27.55 -92.49 67.0 270 10.0 2 3 333393330
423616 2010-06-01T00:06:00 27.55 -92.49 83.0 204 4.9 3 3 333393330
423616 2010-06-01T00:06:00 27.55 -92.49 99.0 261 9.6 4 3 333393330
423616 2010-06-01T00:06:00 27.55 -92.49 115.0 213 8.3 5 3 333393330
423616 2010-06-01T00:06:00 27.55 -92.49 131.0 249 9.7 6 3 333393330
423616 2010-06-01T00:06:00 27.55 -92.49 147.0 279 10.1 7 3 333393330
423616 2010-06-27T18:16:00 27.55 -92.49 771.0 300 4.0 46 3 333393333
423616 2010-06-27T18:16:00 27.55 -92.49 787.0 333 1.1 47 3 333393333
423616 2010-06-27T18:16:00 27.55 -92.49 803.0 45 2.1 48 3 333393333

< snippet A>
   WRITEFN = "adcp-testcase.nc" ; netCDF file to write.
   if(isfilepresent(diro+WRITEFN))
     system("/bin/rm -f " + diro + WRITEFN) ; remove any pre-existing file
   fout = addfile(diro+WRITEFN,"c")
   setfileoption(fout,"DefineMode",True) ; Enter predefine phase.

   ndims = 3
   string_FillValue = "-99999"
   integer_FillValue = -99999
   logical_FillValue = 0

   dimNames = new(ndims,"string",string_FillValue)
   dimSizes = new(ndims,"integer",integer_FillValue)

   dimNames(0) = "recordcount"
   dimNames(1) = "ST_TIME_StrLen"
   dimNames(2) = "ST_ID_StrLen"

   dimSizes(0) = ndata
   dimSizes(1) = ST_TIME_StrLen ; added 1 to account for the
terminator character
   dimSizes(2) = ST_ID_StrLen ; added 1 to account for the
terminator character

   filedimdef(fout,dimNames,dimSizes,(/False,False,False/))

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Received on Thu Mar 31 17:16:42 2011