Which VHF-Hi ONLY antenna or other solution?

[300ohm]

In relationship to the bowties, where on the reflector should one strap these rods? All on one bay or spread out?

Spreading them out, one behind each bowtie pair, will give the best results.

BTW, how did you come up with the rod length?

mclapp discovered that adding a wide reflector on bowties will allow vhf-hi reception years back in the bowtie thread. 28" is better for channel 13, while 36 to 40 inches is better for channel 7. 32" wide should be fine for channel 9.