Ok, I am new to this infrared stuff, so if someone could point me to a
simple design for an asynchronus transceiver over IR I would be grateful.

Insofar I am using the following equipment:

Matched Lite-ON IR LED (940nm Vf=1.2V), it is in a clear plastic T-1
package with
3mm diameter package.  I was going to write a software UART into a 16c715
with an inverted output (compared to normal UART) i.e. active high.  I was
going to take that TX pin and tie it to the base of a 2n3904 through a
3.3k resistor.  Then tie the NPNs emitter to ground and the NPNs collector
to the cathode on the IR LED (Liteon LTE-4206). Then I was going to tie
the anode of the IR LED through a 100ohm resistor to +5V.  The NPN should
get saturated when turned on which will pull the collector down to about
0.3 volts which would let a current of (5-(1.2+0.3))/100 = 35mA flow
through the IR LED, maximum forward current for the IR LED is 60mA and at
35mA (59%) power the output is about (57%) of that at full power, a nice
linear relationship between radiant intensity and forward current.  I
could tweak the 100ohm resistor to give let 60mA through the LED but
unfortunately I am limited to 90-100mA for the entire circuit and I have
another 2 visible LEDs that suck 20mA a piece.  Ok the entire transmit
circuit that I just outlined will cost 36 cents in parts.

Now I need an inexpensive receive circuit using the matched
phototransistor, which conveinently has a darkened lens to cut visible
light (LiteOn LTR-4206E), it is also small in size.

BTW I only need 6-12" of transmission/reception range on this system (it
functions as an optical calibration port), and is very cost sensitive.

Primarily I need help getting the raw signal cleaned up from the
phototransistor, so that it is ready to be fed to an input pin on the PIC.