Pretty sure your issue is you're not using the capacitor. I used a 10uF capacitor and it works great.
The capacitor is to make sure there is enough power being supplied when it needs it. Without the capacitor it causes unreliable communication.
If you have other issues this is a great summary video on using the NRF24L01+ transceivers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDTJULtFPgE
