How to get an overloaded == operator to work with LINQ and EF Core?

Question

so basically, I have a project which uses EF Core. In order to shorten my lambdas when comparing if two objects (class Protocol) are equal, I've overridden my Equals method and overloaded the == and != operators. However, LINQ doesn't seem to care about it, and still uses reference for determining equality. Thanks

As I've said before, I've overridden the Equals method and overloaded the == and != operators. With no luck. I've also tried implementing the IEquatable interface. Also no luck.

I am using: EF Core 2.2.4

//the protocol class

[Key]
public int ProtocolId {get;set;}
public string Repnr {get;set;}
public string Service {get;set;}

public override bool Equals(object obj)
{
    if (obj is Protocol other)
    {
        return this.Equals(other);
    }
    return false;
}

public override int GetHashCode()
{
    return $"{Repnr}-{Service}".GetHashCode();
}

public bool Equals(Protocol other)
{
    return this?.Repnr == other?.Repnr && this?.Service == other?.Service;
}

public static bool operator ==(Protocol lhs, Protocol rhs)
{
    return lhs.Equals(rhs);
}

public static bool operator !=(Protocol lhs, Protocol rhs)
{
    return !lhs.Equals(rhs);
}

//the problem

using (var db = new DbContext())
{

     var item1 = new Protocol() { Repnr = "1666", Service = "180" };
     db.Protocols.Add(item1 );
     db.SaveChanges();
     var item2 = new Protocol() { Repnr = "1666", Service = "180" };
     var result1 = db.Protocols.FirstOrDefault(a => a == item2);
     var result2 = db.Protocols.FirstOrDefault(a => a.Equals(item2));
     //both result1 and result2 are null

}

I would expect both result1 and result2 to be item1. However, they're both null. I know I could just do a.Repnr == b.Repnr && a.Service == b.Service, but that just isn't as clean. Thanks