@The-Grue: Don't be embarrassed by it...pretty sure you are not the first one that fell for this trap and certainly not the last one. Hopefully also other readers on the forum can benefit from your (bad) experience in this way. Thanks for reporting back and good to hear that some of your trust has returned towards the nrf24 and your part shops with a "good name" :slightly_smiling_face: .

@the-grue do you remember where you found that sketch? The one included in MySensors writes 0xFF. Maybe there is an old version somewhere that we should get rid of.