SSB - how to tell USB from LSB

[MDK2]

Hello, total newbie here. I have a Tecsun PL-600 which has a button for receiving SSB mode transmissions. It doesn't distinguish between whether the signal is LSB or USB, which I guess I don't need, but I'm curious. Most of the pirate station postings here identify the broadcast as being in USB, but from what I've read SSB transmissions under 10 MHz (which these all seem to be, in the 43m band) typically are sent in LSB with those over 10 MHz being USB.

So I have two questions. If LSB is standard, why are the pirates transmitting in USB? And is there any way I can tell which mode is being used when listening to something in SSB on my Tecsun - perhaps where I crank the BFO knob (+ or -) tells me that?

Thanks!

[Josh]

The convention these days for non-HAM ssb work is to use usb below 10MHz and above.
No one else follows the HAM convention and there really isn't a reason for HAMs to either.
The reason why HAMs started doing it that way was some of their very early ssb rigs would only do ssb that way due to their mixing scheme.

On the pl660, I always set mine to the closest wwv to the ssb signal I wanted to listen to and zero beated the bfo, then either sideband was on frequency if tuned to signals close to that wwv range. The 660s work for ssb use but are a pain as their alignment is off everywhere you tune, I ended up using mine for swbc listening only before I got rid of it. On the 660 bfo sense, it places the bfo where it should be for upper or lower so that you have to be on the right sideband to tune, something easily discovered by listening.

[MDK2]

Thank you Josh!