Unable to Save Charactor Set Changes?

Hi All: Many times I am running lynx along with rdrview to get an article 
without a toolbar. On my local machine I get symbols such as ~B @D.  To see a 
more normal view, I go in lynx options menu, search for utf, then arrow down to 
assumed document charactor set. I want utf-8 for this one as well, but it will 
only stay during a current session. Editing lynx.cfg in nano nor trying 
different cfg files, it still comes up as iso8859-1. I am running a latest 
Debian SID version, however, over on Shellworld running
Lynx Version 2.9.0dev.10 (11 Aug 2021)
On Shellworld its the set I want.
Meanwhile here at home
Lynx Version 2.9.0 (15 Jan 2024)
I even coppied that Shellworld cfg and ran it locally, still not the charactor 
set I need. Can some1 please suggest how I can force that option to stay. 
Thanks so much in advance.
Chime