This is my first post. I hope that I am posting in the right section of the forum. Otherwise, could an admin move this topic to the appropriate section please?

Board : Arduino Pro Mini 3.3V 8MHz

Arduino IDE : 1.6.12 Arduino is powered by a FTDI Board and USB Mini-B cable from the computer USB port in the following order :

Arduino FTDI

BLK GND

GND CTS

VCC VCC

RXi TX

TXo RX

DTR DTR

Also, I have connected a HC-06 bluetooth module in the following order :

Arduino HC-06

GND GND

VCC VCC

D10 TXD

D11 RXD

The Serial Monitor is open on COM4, Newline, 9600 baud.

The code that I'm trying to run is :

#include <SoftwareSerial.h>
SoftwareSerial BT(10, 11); 
void setup() 
{
 pinMode(13, OUTPUT);
 BT.begin(9600);
 // Send test message to other device
 BT.println("Hello from BTSerial");
 Serial.begin(9600);
 Serial.println("Hello from Serial");
}
char a; // stores incoming character from other device
void loop() 
{
 if (BT.available())
 // if text arrived in from BT serial...
 {
 a=(BT.read());
 if (a=='1')
 {
 digitalWrite(13, HIGH);
 BT.println("LED on");
 }
 if (a=='2')
 {
 digitalWrite(13, LOW);
 BT.println("LED off");
 }
 if (a=='?')
 {
 BT.println("Send '1' to turn LED on");
 BT.println("Send '2' to turn LED on");
 }
 Serial.println(a);
 }
}

I am trying to communicate with the HC-06 from an Android phone. I am posting in this section of the forum because when I send a message from the phone to Arduino the following is printed in the Serial Monitor :

à„...€ƒ¦¤„„‡...§¤¦„‡Å„EóAãbBãbHãb

When I am trying to send a message from Arduino to the phone, nothing is received on the phone.

Could someone please explain why I get garbage output on the Serial Monitor even though the baud rate is the same in the code as it is in Serial Monitor window? Is there a problem with the Arduino IDE?

Edit 12.11.2016

This is what I get when I open the Serial Monitor in the Arduino IDE with this code : Newline, Baud rate 9600

‚Ƈ\Ç$¤†Fó

If I change the Serial Monitor properties to Newline, Baud rate 19200 this is what I receive :

Hello from Serial

On the Android phone application I do not get anything printed.

Also, please note that this question is also addressed on the Arduino forum at the following link : http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=434623.0 I will try and answer in both places as I am not sure that everybody has an account on the forum