[Amps] increasing rf gain in driver stages ?

[Dan Sawyer]

All,

I have an older transistor based transceiver. I have separated the 
circuit and substituted an external signal generator in place of the 
internal circuit. The circuit drives a mixer, by varying the amplitude 
the mixer performs better with about a 4x increase in drive.

My question is: what is the best way to increase the output of an 
amplifier stage?

Is it as simple choosing a transistor with a higher beta?

There are two nearly identical stages. Both are NPN, the collector bias 
is a resistor - inductor in series and the emitter circuit is a 
capacitor - resistor in parallel.  Would reducing the resistor values 
increase gain?

If this question is too general - where is a good source for reading 
about stage gain variables?

Thanks - Dan