A cardiac rhythm management system, comprising: an implantable medical device including an implant telemetry module; and an external system communicatively coupled to the implantable medical device via a telemetry link, the external system including an external telemetry module, wherein at least one of the Implant telemetry module and the external telemetry module includes a telemetry circuit including: an antenna; a transceiver, coupled to the antenna, to transmit and receive data using at least one active channel during a telemetry session, the at least one active channel selected from a plurality of channels each representing a channel frequency band; a channel selector coupled to the transceiver, the channel selector adapted to select at least one hop channel from a sequence of preferred channels in response to a channel selection signal, the sequence of preferred channels prioritized by a degree of preference and the selection is made according to an order of priority; a hop controller coupled to the channel selector, the hop controller adapted to make the at least one hop channel the active channel when the at least one hop channel is selected; a channel quality analyzer coupled to the channel selector, the channel quality analyzer adapted to produce channel quality indicators each associated with one channel of the plurality of channels and each including at least a received signal strength indicator indicative of a strength of signal received through that channel, the channel quality analyzer including a received signal strength detector adapted to produce the received signal strength indicators; and a preferred channel identifier coupled to the channel quality analyzer; the preferred channel identifier adapted to identify the sequence of preferred channels from the plurality of channels by prioritizing channels of the plurality of channels using the channel quality indicators. an implantable medical device including an implant telemetry module; and an external system communicatively coupled to the implantable medical device via a telemetry link, the external system including an external telemetry module, wherein at least one of the Implant telemetry module and the external telemetry module includes a telemetry circuit including: an antenna; a transceiver, coupled to the antenna, to transmit and receive data using at least one active channel during a telemetry session, the at least one active channel selected from a plurality of channels each representing a channel frequency band; a channel selector coupled to the transceiver, the channel selector adapted to select at least one hop channel from a sequence of preferred channels in response to a channel selection signal, the sequence of preferred channels prioritized by a degree of preference and the selection is made according to an order of priority; a hop controller coupled to the channel selector, the hop controller adapted to make the at least one hop channel the active channel when the at least one hop channel is selected; a channel quality analyzer coupled to the channel selector, the channel quality analyzer adapted to produce channel quality indicators each associated with one channel of the plurality of channels and each including at least a received signal strength indicator indicative of a strength of signal received through that channel, the channel quality analyzer including a received signal strength detector adapted to produce the received signal strength indicators; and a preferred channel identifier coupled to the channel quality analyzer; the preferred channel identifier adapted to identify the sequence of preferred channels from the plurality of channels by prioritizing channels of the plurality of channels using the channel quality indicators. an antenna; a transceiver, coupled to the antenna, to transmit and receive data using at least one active channel during a telemetry session, the at least one active channel selected from a plurality of channels each representing a channel frequency band; a channel selector coupled to the transceiver, the channel selector adapted to select at least one hop channel from a sequence of preferred channels in response to a channel selection signal, the sequence of preferred channels prioritized by a degree of preference and the selection is made according to an order of priority; a hop controller coupled to the channel selector, the hop controller adapted to make the at least one hop channel the active channel when the at least one hop channel is selected; a channel quality analyzer coupled to the channel selector, the channel quality analyzer adapted to produce channel quality indicators each associated with one channel of the plurality of channels and each including at least a received signal strength indicator indicative of a strength of signal received through that channel, the channel quality analyzer including a received signal strength detector adapted to produce the received signal strength indicators; and a preferred channel identifier coupled to the channel quality analyzer; the preferred channel identifier adapted to identify the sequence of preferred channels from the plurality of channels by prioritizing channels of the plurality of channels using the channel quality indicators.