I was thinking the same thing , I am currently working with an old CB radio , it uses a PLL02A , using TTL I am working on a design that uses 2 74193's to provide the binary programing for the PLL.... clocked of the same 555 oscilator, I have 3 74192's preset to display the proper frequency that the first stage is delivering to the PLL, the 74192's are tied to 3 74247's and finaly 3 7 segment displays....there are actualy 5 7 segment displays but the first and last are hardwired to display 2 and 5, the middle threee are clocked eg:
2 8.32 5 showing a frequency in the 10 meter Ham band I am sure that I could get away with alot less work using a Microcontroler LOL