Regarding the API not executing.
Quotes copied from forum was generating the error. Pasting config into a JSON formatting tool found the issue (Google “JSON Formatter”)
Hoping code block takes out special quote formatting:
https://<IP-address>/api/loraNetwork?method=PUT&data={"lora":{"enableStrictCounterValidation":false}}&apply=now
If not, copy the URL into a text editor and replace quotes by typing them. Should do the trick.