Correction: 13 inches in length is what I meant to say in the above post. The bow ties on my 8-bay are roughly around the same length (estimated from ground view to be about 1 foot long each). The question I had in mind was to the approximation of how much diameter each crossing rod of the bow-tie should have total. I'm guessing that the diameter should be much thicker since you would be dealing with a larger reflector behind the elements. Also, I figured the principle that with running signal through wires that you would need more thicker wires to hold more wattage or more signal in turn. I figured the same idea could be used with signals traveling over a terrain. The thicker the metal, the more electrons of the signal will be able to radiate that piece of metal and thus allow for more signal to be collected on the elements. Of course the elements do not need to be too thick as to not block off a good portion of the focal point of the parabola. Another question would be how much distance does the bow-tie elements need to be placed from the focal point to get the most signal quality as well as signal strength when it comes to digital signal reception? The elements would need to be placed at a height where the elements do not block off the focal point where the signal is not able to collect and bounce back to the elements. Also, it would not need to be placed too far away from the focal point as to allow signal to hit the focal point and have the majority of the signal bounce back and miss the elements.