raschemmel thanks for trying to help and thanks for everyone
I have used the NRF24L01 many times but I never noticed this issue because I have been
automatically adding electrolytic caps to my power lines since I started in electronics 40
years ago so I would never have tried to use it before going through this routine ritual
when setting up the breadboard. I typically use 10uF for the Reset pin and 47uF or
greater for power rails. (100uF is a good round number that is usually enough). You
can never have too much capacitance on your power rails.