Notes:

1. This was our first true 10GHz contact and first on-air verification of our stations, just after completion of Andrea's transverter that, at that time,  had not the GPS lock circuit yet. The locations chosen were perfectly LOS, with easy eye-aiming, and in fact the contact was done easily with strong signals also in FM and with low-gain antennas. But we didn't know yet that our equipments would work! This first experiment was so smooth and encouraging that, immediately after, all our doubts disappeared and we both felt that those 41Km weren't that much at all. Our thanks to IW9CRG that has offered the large terrace of his penthouse located on the south side of Etna volcano, and to IW9GUR who, despite of his his leg recovering from a surgery, has actively participated with his experience from DX-peditions and field-days.   

2. This very successful long-range contact was not "scientifically" programmed. Andrea's location was simply the highest place close to the town in Campania where he and his family were spending Easter vacations. Without any experience, we did not know exactly where to look for the Sicilian location, so we made our best guess identifying  a site on the highs of Monti Nebrodi with a good visibility of the Tirrenian coast, with Eolie Islands at the horizon.  According to the simulations we did, about 140Km of sea would be below LOS, but we have been positive-thinking... and lucky. This time Andrea had a dish to increase the antenna gain, and also the GPS frequency lock was implemented in his transverter. But unfortunately GPS signals were jammed in his location, therefore also this time we had to play for a while to find each other. The FT817 has been a big help in this task because it is able to send continuously a Dih-Dah sequence with a simple trick: just set it in CW mode with the internal auto-keyer enabled, and afterwards short to ground both dot and dash pins of its paddle jack (or simply insert a stereo earphone that practically acts a a short). By continuously transmitting and slightly moving the dish, one station got better chances to be caught by the other.
Once established the contact, signals were above 9 most of the time using 40cm dishes at both sides, allowing also a relaxing FM talking. The contact was still possible using a small pyramidal horn  (13dB) at  Monti Nebrodi side, but in SSB only with a weak S1~3.  
In this "expedition" Andrea has been helped by his brother-in-law Carmelo (non-ham, but really precious). Johnny got a strong support by Davide IW9GUR, who has always been enthusiast about these new microwave experiences.

3. Just a summer exercise from our respective holiday locations, but with a little bit of risk because we both were at sea level and  LOS slightly obstructed by headlands in two points. Nevertheless, the direct path contact has been done easily, plus an interesting and successful experiment using as a reflector the large rocky hill of Taormina, about 1Km NE, behind Andrea's location.

4. Also this year Andrea moved to I8 for his Easter vacations, so it was time to try again the big jump...  Both transverters were significantly upgraded in power, and oscillators were locked to an internal OCXO to avoid bringing the extra load of the GPS disciplined references. To make things less easy,  this time Andrea drove his car to I0 to set his equipment on the beach of Terracina (LT), just few meters above the sea. Johnny went again to the location in Monti Nebrodi at 1200m. QRB was slightly below 400Km, and the forecast of tropo index  in the south Tirrenian sea was 2 (fair). Despite of that, signals were very strong also this time, and the QSO has been like talking at the telephone, also in FM. Sporadic, deep fading was observable, but the communication has never been lost. The OCXOs, previously tuned in the lab with the GPS reference, have been proven very stable, and fine tuning has been rarely necessary. We had the time also to stop the QSO and make an on-the-air check of the CW beacon recently built by Johnny, running 150mW in a low gain sectoral horn antenna. The beacon was transmitting from Johnny's location in Monti Nebrodi and was received 5/5/9 by Andrea in Terracina. Here is a short video of this QSO.

5. First QSO with stations outside Italy (and different from Andrea IW9HJV!). The contact was done easily at first try (QRB is not challenging) but this contact has been important to test  a new 80cm dish and to learn more microwave DX techniques from a new /P location.  

What we learned...