Hi all, I know basically nothing about the world of SDR, and I have zero interest in wireless signals at this point in time, but I’m very interested in capturing high frequency signals from physical devices. I’ve been searching for a low-cost capture device that’s got a decent ADC on it which is up to the task, and the LimeSDR seems like it should fit the bill. I want to check some assumptions I have about it before I make a purchase though, because as I said, I’ve got basically no knowledge/experience in the SDR world. The main questions I have are:
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What I want is an affordable data acquisition/logging device that can sample an analog waveform at a minimum 10-bit precision at 40MHz or greater, and stream that unbroken raw data off into a file endlessly (or until I run out of storage). Basically I want to dump out a big WAV file, just at a frequency in the MHz range. Can the LimeSDR continuously log its captured data in this manner easily?
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Instead of an antenna, can I connect signal and ground lines from another device straight into one of the RX connectors on the LimeSDR, as if it was an oscilloscope or any other capture device? Are there any implications I should be aware of in doing this (IE, am I going to brick my LimeSDR and/or source device?) Should I connect the signal line through a 10x probe perhaps, or direct?
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The data I’ll be capturing initially will be a mix of PAL/NTSC composite video signals, as well as raw RF from a Laserdisc (contains composite video, analog audio, digital data). Again knowing nothing about the world of SDR and its toolset, are there any goodies out there in this space that’ll make it easier for me to decode/process these kind of signals?
Thanks for taking the time to read this, I appreciate any information you can offer.