EEPROM for Memory Storage

[Jordan1x]

Hi everyone,

I’m working on a little scanner project where I want to add some custom memory storage, mostly to save presets, configurations, and a scan history log, and I’m looking at using a stand-alone EEPROM, specifically the AT28C64B (8 KB Parallel EEPROM). My idea is to pair this EEPROM with a microcontroller that reads the scanner state (frequency, modes, user settings) and writes it into the EEPROM over a parallel bus. The AT28C64B doesn’t need any complex interface, just a handful of address, data, and control lines, which seems easy enough to wire up on a prototype board.

Before I dive too deep, I wanted to see if anyone here has used an external EEPROM in a scanner control project, or something similar (like adding non-volatile storage to log events). A few questions I have:

• Have you used AT28C64B or similar parallel EEPROM for storing settings or logs? How reliable was it over power cycles?
• Do you usually write to this type of chip sparingly (only when settings change) to avoid wear, or is frequent write acceptable?
• Any tips for interfacing it cleanly with a microcontroller (address decoding, buffering, write-protect handling, etc.) especially if I want to avoid bus contention with other peripherals?

I’m not planning to hack the scanner’s core firmware yet, just want to build a side module / attachable controller to read scanner state and store it externally. Would love to hear thoughts, suggestions, or alternative memory ideas (even SPI EEPROMs if that’s better)

Thanks in advance

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

In the past, certain Icom radios, the ham radios and professional receivers used CI-V protocol . I have a 30 year old ICOM IC-R9000 and it has 1000 memories, so enough for me. I could hook to a computer and force more channels. The IC-R1000 is a standalone receiver block that uses custom SW and can load from a spreadsheet like file.