Happy new year folks. Long overdue update but still no cigar...
Thanks to everybody above's input I now understand the fail problem comes from my gateway. I have tried the following steps:
Gateway (Arduino Uno) powered via USB by a high quality charger (iphone charger);
5V from Uno goes to an external down converter to get stable 3.3V;
Radio powered by 3.3V in parallel with 40 uF capacitor.
Sensor radio is also powered in parallel with 20 uF caps. I measured after all these steps I get 3.300 +/- 2 mV to the radio. Well problem solved or so I thought.
Only after these steps would I be able to get stable communication (verified by serial debug from the sensor), but it only lasts two hours max, after which I would get st=fail again until I unplug power to the gateway, replug it in and reload Vera.
Resetting gateway didn't help; simply reloading Vera didn't help. It had to be a hard reset by unplugging it. I am starting to suspect the radio I bought off eBay is from a bad batch (I bought a 5 pack but switching between them didn't help - they all communicate for a few minutes to 2 hours max then drop dead). Any ideas ? Thanks.