I can often talk as far away as New Jersey, Michigan or Indiana using only 5 watts on the 10 meter band. My antenna is a piece of 12 ga. wire in a tree (1/2 wave dipole). Friends with nice directional antennas & rigs that transmit 100 watts can easily talk to Europe on 10 & 20 meter. CW (Morse code) will transmit further than a voice signal using the same rig so it is often the choice for long distance comm. Novice & Technician level licensees can transmit 200 watts. General licensees and up can transmit 1500 watts on some bands.