Adjusting a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) accurately and reliably. The voltage-controlled oscillator VCO attempts to generate an output signal with a programmed known frequency. An ALC circuit and a VCTA circuit adjust the VCO's amplitude and frequency. The system alternates making changes between amplitude or frequency, checking at each change what (difficult-to-predict) effect this has had on the output of the VCO. Each time the VCO switched capacitor array setting is changed, a circuit reviews the VCO output, and determines whether the VCO output should be adjusted in amplitude and frequency. The VCO amplitude and the VCO frequency are adjusted in alternating steps, that is, adjusting the VCO frequency, determining if further adjustments are desired, adjusting the VCO amplitude, determining if further adjustments are desired, and repeating until the VCO coarse adjustment has been sufficiently conducted.