An RF shielded room (14) which houses a magnetic resonance scanner (12) also houses a patient monitor (20) which includes a plurality of sensors (18) which collect physiological data about a patient undergoing a magnetic resonance examination. The monitor includes a transmitter (46) which transmits the physiological data on at least two frequency channels of a broadband frequency spectrum. A communication unit (26) located outside the RF shielded room includes first and second receivers (54, 58) which receive the physiological data from the monitor on the first and second frequency channels, respectively. A processor (62) combines physiological data received by the first and second receivers to. A display (32) displays the combined physiological data. A switch (56) switches antenna connections of the receivers (54, 58) responsive to detection of multipath fade.