these rfm69 chips are easy to use and have loads of working examples to draw information from and are really cheap too
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/RFM69CW-HopeRF-433Mhz-Wireless-Transceiver-with-RFM12B-compatible-Footprint-/181643908981?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a4ad2 1775
I started out with the rfm12b modules and now have developed code that can successfully network the rfm69's with the old rfm12b's . I had similar issues to you trying to get the rfm69's up an running , not having the right gear to see what is really happening makes life difficult . in my case the known working rfm12b net allowed me to get pkt reception code working first after that the tx side just fell into place.
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