I finally have got the radio link to work.
The NRF24 radios I have selected worked fine with the getting started sketches but for the life of me I could not get a proper response from the radio when I sent data to the receiver.
Turns out that unless you get an acknowledgement from the receiver that it got the data the transmitter will return a 0 for the status every time.
Careful rehash of my code to send a response and suddenly I had a data stream.... 
I then had to look into the STRUCT command I was using to compile approx 8-10 bytes of values to transmit, this threw me too. There are several variants on the STRUCT command syntax that I found on the interweb.
With a bit of testing I found the one that worked and now I can see the data as I want it presented to the variables on the receiver end. Just need to get a Mega Arduino no so I have enough digital I/O to drive the display interface (replacing old micro with Arduino) and massage the code to reflect the actual display required.
I am now very confident I can finish this off and have a stable comms link and a functioning display.
Really happy as I have had to teach myself all the ins and outs of the Arduino, radio modules, LCD displays and keypad inputs. Thank goodness for the internet!
Until the next update.
Keep the leds blinking
Cheers
Warren.