So I have a feeling Rover Chris can help me with this one...
I have the Alpine IVA-w200 installed, and have the ipod cable going to the Ai-Net port on the back of the radio. I just purchased/received the Blackbird with the docking station and it too connects to the back of the radio with the Ai-Net cable for video connection. My question is this....how do I hook both of them up at the same time? is there an adaptor to connect both simultaneously?

 

usually the alpine components have a dixie chain type of connection for the Ai-Net cable (each component would have Ai-Net in and out for the next component to connect to) if the blackbird dock does not have this it may be an RGB plug in which case there will be a seperate plug on the back of your iva-W200 (looks similar to the Ai-Net but it is different) and then it will have a set of audio outputs separate that need to be connected as well to the audio input. to be honest it doesn't sound like either your IPOD or your blackbird are using Ai-Net you probably have the IPOD high speed cable (which is faster). The Ai-Net connector is next to a switch on the back of the head unit.

 

you are probably right about that. it was early when i wrote that this morning! i was looking at the sat radio set up that i'm going to put in too, i forgot to mention that this morning, and it looks like i can go into that with the IPOD then go from the sat radio to the unit and have the nav plug in to that separately. i got my fingers crossed that it all works. also sprung the extra money to get a new wiring harness for the radio and the right adapter with RCAS this morning, gonna solder it all up nice now that all the wires are figured out from your help before!!

 

sounds good, just match the plugs there may be separate plugs for all 3 of those components (sat radio,nav, and Ipod cable)
let me know how things turn out and also let me know your thoughts on that setup with the blackbird.

 

i will. i stuck it to my windshield til i have the time this weekend to get it all wired up the right way, and its pretty good so far. more accurate then alot of the portables that i've used. hope that transfers over to the new set up!
have you had any problems with sticking the nav antenna and sat antenna on the dash instead of running to the roof?

 

no in fact many times I will put the antenna under the dash either behind the radio or on top of it, sometimes it doesn't work but usually it works fine as long as it is pointing up.

 

How well the sat antenna works inside the vehicle depends on what pat of the country you are in. I tried putting my sirius antenna on the dash of my work truck in North Dakota and it worked great heading south. When I was heading north I got intermittent reception at best. Moved the antenna outside to the visor above the windshield and it works great regardless of direction.

 

sat radio antennas are different as they have to have a constant line of sight to work properly, nav antennas don't require this constant line of sight and use things such as speed sense, reverse wire inputs, and some of the better units use a gyroscope to help if a signal is weak. This is why most units will work in a tunnel (and I have seen an old Pioneer avic unit work in the big Boston tunnel with off ramps accurately) nav systems seem to work better with repeaters than sat radio too. Sat radio (even properly installed) can go out quickly under a large overpass.