An implantable cardiac stimulation system and method provides an external display of a heart activity signal sensed internally by an implantable cardiac stimulation device which has the appearance of a surface EKG. The heart activity signal is sensed by the implanted device and is processed by the device or the external display to have frequency characteristics resembling that of a surface EKG. The heart activity signal to be displayed takes the form of an intracardiac electrogram signal with a low frequency roll-on of no greater than 0.4 Hz and a high frequency cutoff of no less than 20 Hz. This provides a heart activity signal for display which has the appearance and most attributes of a surface EKG.