System and method for voltage controlled oscillator automatic band selection

A system for establishing the frequency of a voltage controlled oscillator operating within one of a plurality of narrowly defined frequency bands, said system operable to control the selection of the frequency band based upon the frequency of a reference signal, said system comprising:

• a resonant circuit for establishing a stable output frequency of the voltage controlled oscillator, said resonant circuit having a plurality of selectable elements which operate to establish the set point for the stable output frequency;
• selection control circuitry for selecting said elements of said resonant circuit, said selection circuitry including:
• means for monitoring the phase between the reference signal and an output signal of the voltage controlled oscillator and for providing an imbalance signal when an imbalance is determined;
• means responsive to the imbalance signal for determining whether a selectable element increase or a selectable element decrease is necessary to change said frequency band in order to correct said imbalance, and for providing an element increase signal or an element decrease signal;
• and
• means, including a binary counter, and controlled by said element increase signal or said element decrease signal, for changing an existing setting of the currently enabled selectable elements.