A repeater by definition, is designed for high duty cycles and it detects the loss of carrier on the input automatically and then it injects the tone/beep to indicate to the other party that it's OK to transmit. If you are trying to say that they should let the carrier drop once in a while to allow a breaking station to say something; well, that's another scenario isn't it? So which is it? Are you worried about the repeater hardware or are you saying that the folks in conversation should let the carrier drop to allow break-ins? I think that you're implying that stations in a conversation should allow short breaks in the flow of conversation for possible emergency stations or other traffic to get a word in edgewise, and that's OK, but lets define the problem a bit better, OK? Most repeater(s) and clubs have "personalities". If the traffic on the repeater is bugging you for some reason, then you have a few options: 1. Complain to the repeater owner. 2. Use a different repeater. 3. Go to simplex. Around here, we usually go for option 3.
On our large linked 2M system we have about a 5 second carrier delay, but a beep occurs about a second after you unkey. When you hear that beep, you can go ahead and transmit. We don't want you to wait for the carrier to drop out, there is no need for that, and it only increases QSO time for no real reason. If people need to break in, they do it between when a person unkeys, and the beep occurs. But, in no case is it necessary, desirable, or suggested that you should let the carrier drop. That is bad practice on our large linked system. Some repeaters may be different, but they will have a short dropout time, like a second or less. But most with long dropout timers, and a courtesy tone don't need that.
