Heltec Lora+BT+Wifi V2 433MHz

I have a previous post but it is still on hold due to my being a new user here.
I’m not sure if that is going to be released at some point.
I have two boards as mentioned in the title that are not communicating or seeing each other at all.
I am basing this on nothing showing in the peers list and on no TXT messages coming across the nodes
from each other.
These are 433MHz boards. and I realize they default to an 900MHz band frequency out of the box after flashing.
I would expect (but I am not sure) they should still communicate at extremely close range (a few inches) out of the box but not entirely sure.
I have also tried setting them to a specific frequency in the designed band (430MHz). continuing to maintain all other out for the box settings and they are not communicating.
I of course have set the region (US) and have made sure the Lora radio is turned on.
But no love yet in passing traffic or seeing the other node show up in peers.
I am also aware of the Amateur radio setting but unsure if it impacts transmitter or not.
I’m guessing it simply tags the callsign onto the transmitted frames somewhere and possibly
disables encryption but I do not see this documented anywhere.
Oddly the setting only appears to be available in the APP/Bluetooth connection but does not show at all in the Chrome/serial configurator. ((grumble)) .
Am I missing anything?
Or is there specific firmware for 433MHz?
The web flasher does not seem to indicate this at all.