This isn’t a direct reply to the OP, but I scoured this thread (and every other I could find) trying to get my cheap-o NRF24L01+ boards working, and nothing recommended did the trick. Since this thread shows up fairly high on searches, I figured I’d post my solution- hopefully it helps someone else.
In case it matters to your situation: my boards are a few feet apart. There’s minimal interference in my workshop. I tried changing the power and transmit speed, picked the best channel my WIFI scanner could give me, etc. I checked my voltage, and it was steady to within a 100th of a volt during transmission and reception. The best I could get was a few successful received messages on the agent, and no replies to the controller.
What finally fixed it for me was getting a set of these breakout boards: https://www.makerfocus.com/products/4pc ... 6fca&_ss=r. They’re designed to use 5V power to regulate 3.3V, but on my Pico-to-Pico setup (which only produces 3.3V), they worked like a charm.