To complement your counter have you considered this good little frequency generator project, it works fine.
Works ok with a cheap ebay Uno clone board if you are on a budget. https://www.ad7c.com/projects/ad9850-dds-vfo/
I was not trying to promote the ebay products... the opposite... the design seems to be a clone from the qsl.net site, a couple of parts added regulator and osc , but they seem to be shipping it with out a flashed PIC... may be just a plip.