It works now! I'm now using the NRF's without external antenna and I've added a AMS1117 3.3v regulator module to the node. The ones with external antenna still don't work, but the it will probably be fine without them.

@BearWithBeard Yep, the Arduino is a cheap Chinese clone. It definitely uses a CH340. I just ordered some 3.3v regulators as well. Both the new NRF's and the regulators should be arriving tomorrow.
The new NRF's are the version without external antenna, so I guess they would probably also work without the regulator, but I'm going to try if I can get the ones with external antenna working with the regulator.
I also ordered another Arduino Nano (still a clone though), so I'll try that if the regulator doesn't work.

It's a ESP8266. How far apart should I move them? I've tried up to 10m, which I think should be more than enough. I'll order new NRF's, if that doesn't fix it I guess I will just have some extras. :man-shrugging:

I'm trying to set up a basic MySensors network. I have a NodeMCU hooked up to a NRF24L01+ with attena. It looks like it boots up normally. I also have an Arduino Nano hooked up to another NRF24 of the same type, but it has !TSM:FPAR:NO REPLY messages in the Serial console.

Gateway log:

79 MCO:BGN:INIT GW,CP=RNNGE---,FQ=80,REL=255,VER=2.3.2
136 TSF:LRT:OK
152 TSM:INIT
165 TSF:WUR:MS=0
189 TSM:INIT:TSP OK
scandone
state: 0 -> 2 (b0)
state: 2 -> 3 (0)
state: 3 -> 5 (10)
add 0
aid 10
cnt 

connected with REDACTED, channel 10
dhcp client start...
ip:192.168.178.84,mask:255.255.255.0,gw:192.168.178.1
426 TSM:INIT:GW MODE
449 TSM:READY:ID=0,PAR=0,DIS=0
481 MCO:REG:NOT NEEDED
1580 GWT:TIN:CONNECTING...
2608 GWT:TIN:CONNECTING...
scandone
3636 GWT:TIN:CONNECTING...
3665 GWT:TIN:IP: 192.168.178.84
3699 MCO:BGN:STP
3717 MCO:BGN:INIT OK,TSP=1
3745 TSM:READY:NWD REQ
3772 ?TSF:MSG:SEND,0-0-255-255,s=255,c=3,t=20,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:
pm open,type:2 0

It does not output any more messages after that.

Node log:

 
 __  __       ____
|  \/  |_   _/ ___|  ___ _ __  ___  ___  _ __ ___
| |\/| | | | \___ \ / _ \ `_ \/ __|/ _ \| `__/ __|
| |  | | |_| |___| |  __/ | | \__ \  _  | |  \__ \
|_|  |_|\__, |____/ \___|_| |_|___/\___/|_|  |___/
        |___/                      2.3.2

16 MCO:BGN:INIT NODE,CP=RNNNA---,FQ=16,REL=255,VER=2.3.2
26 TSM:INIT
28 TSF:WUR:MS=0
34 TSM:INIT:TSP OK
36 TSM:INIT:STATID=10
38 TSF:SID:OK,ID=10
39 TSM:FPAR
1855 ?TSF:MSG:SEND,10-10-255-255,s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:
3863 !TSM:FPAR:NO REPLY
3865 TSM:FPAR
5681 ?TSF:MSG:SEND,10-10-255-255,s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:
7688 !TSM:FPAR:NO REPLY
7690 TSM:FPAR
9505 ?TSF:MSG:SEND,10-10-255-255,s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:
11512 !TSM:FPAR:NO REPLY
11514 TSM:FPAR
13330 ?TSF:MSG:SEND,10-10-255-255,s=255,c=3,t=7,pt=0,l=0,sg=0,ft=0,st=OK:
15338 !TSM:FPAR:FAIL
15339 TSM:FAIL:CNT=1
15341 TSM:FAIL:DIS
15343 TSF:TDI:TSL

This continues for a bit but it's just the same messages again.

A few notes:

• Both radios have 100uF capacitors
• I'm 99% they aren't fakes, they don't have the blob thingies
• I have not set up a controller yet, but the node has a static ID defined
• The gateway's NRF24 is at about 3.1v, the node's is at exactly 3.3v
• I have tried setting both of them to RF24_PA_MIN, this did not make a difference
• I have tried switching out the NodeMCU, but this did not make a difference

Any suggestions? Is this a hardware issue? I salvaged both NRF's from a previous project, and I couldn't get them to work then either. They might just not work.