How can i correctly set up my sampling rate?

[ounety]

I know my question is more of a DSP than a USRP problem. But i am trying to understand the relationship between the carrier frequency and the chosen sampling rate. I was transmitting and i successfully received it when the center frequency was set to baseband (zero), however if i change the center frequency, the signal gets highly distorted to the point when i can only see a funny looking sinusoidal signal that has nothing to do with the transmitted signal, i.e. I only see a distorted version of the carrier. Please help guys 🙂

[psisterhen]

The carrier frequency range differs from device to device, but none of them (with the exception of some particular older Ettus daughterboards that you are unlikely to have) reaches DC.  It may be that you set a frequency of 0 and it coerced to the lowest supported frequency (e.g. 400 MHz) and since both receiver and transmitter were tuned to that frequency, it worked and you didn't notice the coercion.

What device are you using?