As i said before at 40 -45 feet high i work all europe and Russia on 80 with relative ease, 100 -1000 watts mostly just running 100 watts.
If you will get your antenna up at 1/2 that hight you will go to a more NVIS antenna, good for local contacts up to 1000 Km's worse outside that scope.
You also will experience more ground loss, but that won't mean no DX or no good signals withing 1000 Km's just that the DX and above 1000 KM signals will be less as good as 40-45 feet up.

Conditions will make good or bad all these effects, with good cndx you still will be able to make a difference in DX.
If as now we have a CME ( coronal mass ejection) hitting us then the band closes and a beam at 40 meters high and 2000 watts will be worth sh*t too.
Many people make good DX with 5 watts and a half decent antenna, just put the stuff up and enjoy like most of us antenna challenged peeps do.
Try to get the ARRL antenna book, i have as well the RSGB book, the low band DXing from ON4UN, and some older ARRL Radio Amateurs Handbooks, i own several of them the newst 1984... still with a gaggle of valid info you can use today.
Lots of good info about antenna's influence over ground, hight etc can be found in there.

Conditions will do the most, i remember moddifying my FT 847 to Schottky diodes having it on the bench on 10 meters with a 2 feet piece of wire in it, and with 1 watt lowest power testing the audio i got the USA on the line on 10...... from my room at the first floor in the house and 2 feet wire and 1 watt.....from the Netherlands...

Put up what you can as high as possible and as much copper as possible and have fun.
Cor
Quote Originally Posted by KG4NEL View Post
What if I need to get at least several hundred miles away before I find people I want to talk to on there? ;) :p