BJHenry:
Given that you seem to be able to get it working if you are touching some wires then the problem is almost certainly a wiring issue. Are you connecting everything together on a solderless breadboard? They are notoriously finicky. I have personally had issues using solderless breadboards to connect NRF24L01 radios to my Arduino.
To give us all a better idea of what is going on, can you post a schematic of how you have wired up your radios, and also post the code that you are using along with any error messages you are getting?
Im not even using a diagram, I was following the guide that was listed on the spark fun website for the module itself. Note I am using an arduino uno and only and am directrly wiring it from the power & GND pins and the digital write pins like in the diagram on this link. nRF24L01+ Transceiver Hookup Guide - SparkFun Learn