Instant Character Recognition requires knowing your Morse code ABC’s. That’s all. Morse code comprehension isn’t complicated, but it does takes time, diligence, and study. By comprehension, I mean listening to Morse code, not writing letter-by-letter, then reading it later to see what was said.
Have someone quickly spell a common 4- or 5-letter word out loud to you. Like HELLO or GREEN. Did you recognize each letter? Did you “get” the word? Was it difficult? Probably not. You’ve experienced Instant Character Recognition and “word building” because you already have ICR with the spoken alphabet.
Did understanding a spelled word require a special technique? Nope —all it took was knowing your ABC’s and a little spelling. When Morse code sounds are synonymous with their spoken letter sounds, you’ve achieved ICR. However, truly knowing your Morse code ABC’s isn’t like “remembering” them, it isn’t decoding them, and it isn’t a conscious process; they are too slow.
Your subconscious handles spoken letter ICR. You aren’t “remembering” or consciously “decoding” spoken letters; you know them. You could think of it as having 26 finely tuned high-Q receptors
