Hey, noob here. I’m trying to jump into radio, I’m looking to test on the LIMESDR Mini without broadcasting TX on accident . Is there anyway to make sure, with just the hardware not to transmit? Do I need to buy an attenuator? If I don’t plug in an antenna to the TX port will my Lime go bad?
What software are you using to control the Lime? Are you programming it yourself, or are you using software such as Pothos or Gnu Radio Companion?
Hey @Gsparky2004 no programming yet, actually don’t have the device, it’s in the mail. I am mostly interested in playing with the software side of things. I will probably start with Gnu Radio. I want to turn off TX via hardware if at all possible. My OP is wondering if the solution is as simple as not plugging in an antenna into TX. I understand most software probably doesn’t automatically switch transmissions on but at the same time I am not familiar with any of this and I’m going for “safe than sorry”.
Perfect! If you’re using Gnu Radio (specifically Gnu Radio Companion and its wonderful graphical interface), you won’t accidentally transmit so long as you use a “source” (receiver) and not a “sink” (transmitter). Further, the Lime plug-in for Gnu Radio literally says “LimeSuite Source (RX)” for the receiver part. Make sure you’re using that.
I can’t speak of the issue of turning on the transmitter without a load (antenna, dummy load, whatever). I don’t want to test out that possibility with mine. 
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