Fellow AVIC'er, here is my situation:

AVIC D2

PAC SWI-PS

XM NavTraffic Receiver

30 gig Black iPod (Santa is supposed to bring that)

'02 Nissan Altima wiring harness and Double-Din kit

The two wire bypass will be done on install

My 'issue' is Crutchfield just informed me the NavTraffic receiver is on backorder and will not be available to ship until 12/22 at the earliest (all the other goodies arrived yesterday).

Here are my questions:

1. How difficult is it to go in and install the XM unit after the other parts are installed?

2. Anyone have experience with the PAC unit in an Altima or Nissan? What were the pitfall or 'gotchas' you encountered?

Thanks in advance. You all have been quite helpful in my decision to go with the D2

Well you'll have to daisy chain the bus cable from Pioneer->ipod->xm module. Depending on where you place those components it'll make a difference. For example if you place the ipod box behind the headunit, you'll need to remove the headunit to get to it to run the xm data cable.

You'll also need to run the xm antenna somewhere outside your ride. And the XM mod requires power & ground.

just fyi, ant. doesnt have to go outside, you likely wont see much signal difference either by putting it inside the vehicle.

yeah, I am hearing the ant don't need to be outside and mine will be on the upper portion of my dash (see photo...not my car but same model). Also, I should have been more clear, the iPod will be connected via the AV jacks because it will be used initially as a video source only.

Just remember that GPS satellites are plentiful in the sky, but for now, XM only has four satellites to acquire a signal with (and soon only two satellites, since the original two launched are about to be powered down to be used as orbital spares).

Now that my geek talk is over, its easier for the GPS signals to be acquired with so many more satellites to pick up from, but with XM, depending on which part of the country you are in, you need a clear view of either the southeast sky or southwest sky, since the satellites are in geostationary orbit.

I have my gps satellite on my dash, but my XM is up on the middle of my roof just above the windshield (with the wire running through the weatherstripping of the windshield to be concealed) for maximum XM reception. (Of course when Im home in NYC, i get awesome ground terrestrial repeater signals from XM, so the satellite signal issue is moot).

Thanks for the insight. I am DC and not sure what repeater network they have set up. if I can get a "factory" look, I may mount it outsite, not confident about cutting the weather stripping so I may just break down and have a local shop install the wire.

In the DC area you should have excellent repeater coverage. XM's headquarters is located in DC, and even while driving through the Ft McHenry tunnel, i had a signal all the way through with no dropouts whatsoever! In your case you should have no problems whatsoever keeping the antenna inside the windshield.

PS - I didnt do any cutting of the weather stripping either. Just slighted lifted the strip along the edge and tucked the wire underneath with a small flat object, (like a putty knife).