the beep serves a purpose i had a qso with a guy in papau new guinea about a month ago very weak signal we both put out beeps on i couldnt tell when he quit transmitting because the signal was shifting it helped alot.
I have always maintained that if you need a BEEEEPP!!! to know when the other guy has stopped talking then you are just kidding yourself about carrying on a conversation because obviously you cannot hear him well enough to understand what he is saying much less when he has stopped talking.