not used an RA-01 but have used a couple of RA-02 LoRa modules
with one connected to a nano the other to a ESP32
the nano using the same wiring as your post 1 and the similar code (my version is in post 4)
the RA-01 should therefore communicate with the nano OK
check your wiring ? post a photograph?
the RA-01 documentation does state a maximum IO level of 3.6V and the nano uses 5V logic so a level converter should be used or change to a micro with 3.3 logic as recommended by @srnet -
what Node MCU ? ESP32 or ESP8266?
how did you connect it?
when testing a RA-02 with a ESP8266 I used
// connections
// RA-02 SS to ESP8266 GPIO 15 D8
// RA-02 RST to ESP8266 GPIO 16 D0
// RA-02 DIO0 to ESP8266 GPIO 4 D2
// RA-02 MOSI to ESP8266 GPIO 13 D7
// RA-02 MIS0 to ESP8266 GPIO 12 D6
// RA-02 SCK to ESP8266 GPIO 14 D5
and the setup() is therefore
// void setPins(int ss = LORA_DEFAULT_SS_PIN, int reset = LORA_DEFAULT_RESET_PIN, int dio0 = LORA_DEFAULT_DIO0_PIN);
LoRa.setPins(15,16,4); // for ESP8266
if (!LoRa.begin(433E6)) {
Serial.println("Starting LoRa failed!");
while (1) ;
}
Much easier to work with 3.3V Arduinos and appreciate that the library code does work, so if it fails to detect your LoRa module, you either have it wired wrong or its faulty. Once you have a working setup, you can test the modules you have doubts about.
what Arduino are you using? e.g. ESP32, ESP8266, etc
worth noting I have had an Noan and ESP8266 working with an RA-02 but attemptss with a ESP82 have failed so far - will try again in morning