A device for use in communication with an implantable medical device. The device is provided with a spatial diversity antenna array mounted to a housing and an RF transceiver operating at defined frequency, coupled to the antenna alray. The antenna array comprises two antennas spaced a fraction of the wavelength of the defined frequency from one another, each antenna including two antenna elements mounted to the housing and located oithogonal to one another. Selection of which of the antennas is employed is accomplished by an device controller, responsive to the quality of the signals received by the antennas.